
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Iftt. 

SLelf .£.b5'.4Tw 

UNITED STATES OF AMEFICA. 




« 


t 


• 9 



/ 



i • 


^ t 



«• n 

c 


# . 









« 






V. 







>-«V . 


A 


« 


« 


» 1 f 


« 


. k 






I 9 






> 


» 


1 




I 


I 



i 1 




FRANK WEST ROLLINS. 


Entered at Post Office, New York, as Second-Class Matter. 
Issued Weekly— April 10, 1891— SuUKsription $12.00 per Yeer. 



STAHDARD REClfAMS BI .EEST ADTHORS 


A Choice CoUectioD of BeautiTiil CompoiiitiMMt 

OABKJFULLT COMFELED FOB 

Lyceum, Parlor, and other futertaliuneota 
By FRANCES P. SULLIVAN. 

CONTENTS OP NO. li 


PAGE 


Sheridan’s Bide. T. B. Bead 3 

Barbara Frietchie. J. G. Whittier.... 4 
Hamlet’s Soliloquy on Death. Shaks- 

peare 4 

The Ship of State. Longfellow 6 

War. E. B. Browning 6 

Cato on the Immortality of the Soul. 

Addison 5 

My Country. Anonymous 5 

Cardinal Wolsey's Farewell to Power. 

Shakspeare 4 

To My Mother. Forrester 6 

What makes a Hero. Henry Taylor. . 7 

America. Bryant 7 

The Felon. M. G. Lewis ......... .. 7 

Ode to Fear. Collins 8 

Dorkins’ Night. Anonymous 8 

Warren’s Address. •' Pierpont 9 

Return of the Deaa. Proctor 9 

To a Skull. Anonymous 9 

The Pauper’s Death-Bed. Caroline B. 

"’^'Southey 10 

•The Glove and the Lion. Leigh Hunt. 10 
Marco Bozzaris. 1 itz-Greene Halleck. 11 

The Last Man. Campbell 11 

Eeamey at Seven Pines. E. C. Stead- 
man 12 

The Gambler’s Wife. Coates 13 

The Battle of Fontenoy. Thomas 

Davis 14 

Over the River. Nancy A. M. Priest. . 15 

Life. Henry King 15 

Bivouac of the Dead. Theodore 

O’Hara 15 

When the Tide Goes Out. Anony 

mous 16 

The Drunkard’s Dream. C. W. Deni- 
son 16 

Wobody’s Child. Philo H. Child 17 

One in Blue and One in Gray. Wm. 

Ward ■ 17 

Man was made to Mourn. Bobert 
Bums... 18 


The Collier’s Dying Child. Parmer. . 19 
Where Man Should Die. Anonymous. 19 
Bed Riding Hood. J. G. Whittier ... 20 
The Aran’s Farewell to his Steed. 

Mrs. Norton 20 

The Futility of Fame. H. K. l^ite. . 21 
Somebody’s Darling. “ War Lyrics of 
the South" 21 




Yearning. J. Brennan#*. 23 

Roll-Call. N. P. Shephert 22 

When the Lamp is Shattered. Percy 

Bysshe Shelley 33 

Ring out Wild Bells. Tennyson 23 

The Downfall of Poland. Campbell.. 23 
Elegy Written in a Country Church- 

Yard. Gray... 24 

The Weaver 25 

The Memory of the Dead. Anony- 
mous 23 

The Reconciliation. John Banim. ... 23 
The Bells of Shandon. Father Prout. . 27 

Look Aloft. J. Lawrence 27 

Curfew must not Ring To-Night. 

Anonymous 28 

Persevere. J. Brougham 39 

The Baron’s Last Banquet. A. G.‘ 

Greene 29 

The Inquiry. Charles Mackay 33 

.The Relief of Lucknow. Bobt. Lowell. 31 

The Water-Mill. D. G. Mitchell 31 

Dying Californian 32 

Bingen on the Rhine. Mrs. Norton. . 33 

Beautiful Snow 34 

The Charge of the Light Brigade. 

Tennyson so 

Tue Dying Soldier 33 

Jim Bludso. John Hay 35 

Somebody’s Mother 33 

I’d offer Thee this Hand of Mine 33 

The Bridge 37 

The Polish Boy. Ann S. Stephens. ... 37 
Why should the Spirit of Mortals be 

}?roud 83 

Betsy Destroys the Paper. D. R. 

Locke 89 

There’s None like a Mother if ever so 

Poor 41 

The Song of the Sword. Anonymoue. ^ 
The Mistletoe Bough. Anonymous.. A 


The Village Blacksmith 43 

Which Shall it be ? Anonymous 43 

The Death of the Warrior King. Chas. 

Swan 44 

Found Dead. Albert Leighton 44 

Little Will. Anonymous 45 

In School Days. J. G. Whittier 4T 

Unknown Dead. L. D. M 4T 

Bernardo del Carpio. Mrs. Hemans. . 4B 


Price IS Cents by MalL 1 and 2 Cent Stamps taken* 

Address, M. J. IVERS & CO., 

«« ifeMM ir, T. cwr. 


AMEBICAN SERIES. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


BY 

i/' 

FRANK WEST ROLLINS. 



M. J. IVERS & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

86 NASSAU STREET. 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, by 
M. J. IVERS & CO., 

in the Office of the Libraman of Congress, Washington, D, C. 


The Twin Hussars. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


CHAPTEE I. 

It was the first day of the college year. The soft 
September sunshine came filtering down through the 
great elms in the yard, flecking with golden lights the 
dark-green sward; the deep, thick masses of ivy through 
which the windows of the buildings peeped were just be- 
ginning to yellow and fade, and the birds which filled the 
trees were making the most of the fleeting summer, and 
bursting their very throats with melody. Scattered 
among the trees, standing and lying upon the grass, were 
groups of eager boys, while here and there an anxious 
father was giving his parting advice to some ambitious 
freshman. 

The old halls, with their ivy-covered walls, and their 
memories and echoes of thousands of departed occupants, 
threw open their welcoming doors to the new and old 
friends. The corridors were resonant with rushing feet, 
shouts of laughter poured from half-open doors, while 
hearty greetings and smiling faces met one at every 
turn. Fresh-looking, awkward boys were wandering 


4 


THE TWIH HUSSARS. 


about the yard and buildings, examining their new quar- 
ters, and showing in their faces mingled delight and em- 
barrassment; while careless, insouciant-looking fellows, 
with their tennis-haps on the backs of their heads and 
brier pipes in their mouths, and a general air of owner- 
ship, were sitting in the open windows. 

Perhaps there is no day in the year so filled with hap- 
piness to the under-graduate, no day which he looks back 
upon with so much yearning and longing as this first day 
of the new year. 

All the petty trials and annoyances, the small feuds 
and jealousies of the previous year are forgotten, and 
every familiar face is welcomed with joyous and boyish 
acclamations, and iPs: 

“ Halloo, Bill! Why, Harry, how are you? Sam, 
old boy, give us your hand! Bert, I^ni confounded glad 
to see you! Boys, here comes Richie !^^ etc., etc. 

Every face is wreathed in smiles; every mind is dwell- 
ing on the good times in store for them during the com- 
ing year, and even the professors, as they pass, seem to 
have caught a little of the gladness of the sunshine and 
the infectious hilarity of the boys, and smile good-natur- 
edly to the respectful salutations of the students. 

If you are a college man, look back at those days; re- 
member those hearty hand-shakes; listen to those dear 
old voices, many of them now hushed and gone; feel 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


0 


once more the strong, happy pulsations of your heart as 
friend after friend appears dn the scene. You^ll never 
forget those days. 

It is worth while to go through college, just tor the 
happy recollections and the pleasant memories which 
cluster around a man's student life in after days. When 
I get tired or blue, I turn round from my desk, put my 
feet on the window-sill, go back a few chapters in my 
life, and read the preface and opening pages again, 
always with a new zest; always with a renewed appre- 
ciation for some old joke, which perhaps did not really 
amount to much, but which is very dear to me all the 
same; always with the same little twinge deep down that 
those days can never return; always with a sad reflec- 
tion that when I meet Jack nowadays he is a very differ- 
ent sort of fellow from what he was in those days; 
always with a furtive passing of my hand over the top 
of my head, where the suggestive little bald spot lies, 
and then, with a “ Heigh-ho!" 1 come back from the 

tr 

land of dreams, and dip my pen into the ink of reality 


once more. 


6 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


CHAPTEE 11. 

Bu^ our story carries us to one room in particular 
in this great honeycomb of be-pictured, be-tennis- 
racketed, be-street-signed, and generally bedecked stu- 
dents’ apartments. In one of the front rooms of old 
Holworthy, whose walls and floors are said to be filled 
with bottles containing the names and mysterious 
prophecies of hundreds of those who have left fragrant 
memories here, two young men were beaming at each 
other in a very benignant manner, having just gone 
through the prescribed hand-shake. 

One was now sitting in the cosy window-seat, his 
blonde hair falling carelessly over the low, broad fore- 
head, his deep-set gray eyes glowing with animation and 
friendship. This was Larry Eeynolds, whose character 
and qualities concern us a bit. Of medium height, 
athletic in build, and a face^as near a sunbeam as pos- 
sible, with laughter always in his eyes, a song upon 
his lips, waltzing to his own glad music, accompanying 
himself with a crackling accolade of snapping fingers, 
Larry dances through his pleasures or his tasks. No 
day so dark he can not see the sun, “no cloud so 
black it has no silver lining.” 

But for the reverse side of the picture. He would 


THE TWIN HUSSAES. 


7 


probably be called weak, not physically, but in point of 
character. He lacks some of those sterling virtues so 
much to be admired and desired. He shrinks from 
trouble, pain, worry, and the blues. 

He would grace a wedding, but make a sorry spec- 
tacle at a funeral. He lacks perseverance, constancy, 
firmness, his critics would tell you. He is a steadfast 
believer in the saying, “ Sip your honey while you may, 
you’ll be a long time dead.’’ 

But what would you have? You can’t expect all 
the good qualities and Christian graces in one poor hu- 
man, especially as he is not allowed to have anything 
to do with his own designing or manufacture. He 
comes into the world loaded down with the good and 
bad qualities, the virtues and vices of a more or less long 
line of ancestors, and is blamed if their peculiarities 
crop out a little too prominently for the peace of mind 
of those with whom he is thrown in contact. Heredity 
accounts for everything. When a young man commits 
some mischievous and cogtly act, you say you don’t see 
where he got such traits, his father and mother are ex- 
emplary people. But just dig into the family history, 
and you won’t have to unearth a great deal of rubbish 
before you come upon some ancestor who was appar- 
ently the devil incarnate, and in whom this very trait 
was ingrained. 


8 


THE TWIET HUSSAKS. 


You can^t expect the butterfly to have the domestic 
qualities of the humble bee; nor a tumble-bug to emu- 
late the lark; yet all are admirable in their sphere, and 
certainly would be missed. 

The tall, slender, rather student-like youth, leaning 
on the mantel-piece, is the humble bee of the twain. 
His name is Kossiter Valentine. Eather a poetical 
name, but the owner is very practical. His thoughtful 
brow and earnest eyes betoken a man of ideas. He is 
a student, a thinker, a class leader, a dabbler in meta- 
physics, an adept at mechanics, a wonder at mathe- 
matics, and, above all, a rattling good fellow. As we 
listen at the door, we catch fragments of the conversation. 

“ Boss, you look as though, for once, you had given 
books the go-by and had had a little fun. What have you 
been up to?^^ 

‘‘ Nothing, to tell the truth. I camped a month in 
the Eangely country, had a week^s cruise with Jim Fes- 
senden in his yacht, and spent the rest of the vacation 
lounging around home.^^ 

“ Well, arenT you sorry to go to work again? Come 
now, be honest 

“ 1 don’t want to palm myself o3 as a superior being, 
Larry,” said the tall young man, with a deprecating 
smile; “ but, honestly, I am quite ready to get at it 
again. I never feel exactly easy in my mind when 1 am 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


9 


having such a good time. You know 1 haven’t anything 
to look forward to except what I can earn, and tempus is 
fugiting.” 

“ Oh, bother, Eoss! What more do you want? 
You’ll be top of the heap, rolling in wealth. You can’t 
help it, with talents like yours; while I shall be sweating 
— no. I’ll be hanged if I’ll sweat!— for a pittance.” 

Eoss looked thoughtfully at his companion for several 
moments before answering. Perhaps the latter’s remarks 
had started a train of thought more serious than their 
previous conversation. At last, breaking from his specu- 
lations, he said: 

“ But, Larry, you haven’t told of your own summer 
yet, and yours are always full of incidents. Your letters 
were so few and far between that I didn’t get much in- 
formation from them. I know you went to the Adiron- 
dacks, and flirted disgracefully with a minister’s daugh- 
ter from Philadelphia, and that you played polo at 
Newport; but aside from that, I am in the dark.” 

“ My diligent friend,” said Larry, with a heavy sigh, 
“ you have sized up my vacation very well. I had a jolly 
good time; flirted as you say; played polo; sung a bit; 
had one or two quiet games of hankey-pankey, etc., etc. 
In fact, had all the fun I could get. You know I never 
let any escape. But, I say, Eoss, I had a funny little 
adventure just before I came back — ” 


10 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


“ Ah! now we are getting at it/^ and the young man 
by the mantel-piece braced himself as though ready for 
anything. “ 1 knew there would be something interest- 
ing to tell, and this, 1 suppose, is the inece de resistance. 
Well, go on, only donH expect me to believe more than 
half of it. 

As he spoke he pulled a chair toward him and 
stretched his long body in it as comfortably as possible. 
His hands were folded in his lap, and his face wore a look 
of mock respect and attention. Larry looked at him for 
a moment, and then laughed. He evidently considered 
his chumps last remark rather a compliment to his abili- 
ties as a romancer. Then he began. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


11 


CHAPTER HI. 

“ You^ve been down to our place, and you know the 
lay of the Jiand pretty well there, and that will assist me 
in what I have to tell you. You will remember, that we 
have a big orchard and garden at the rear of the house, 
and that next to us, within a stone^s-throw, is a fine old 
place which has been unoccupied for a good many years. 
Owner died, you know, last spring, while I was here at 
Cambridge; the place was bought by an old chap 'from 
New York, who came down and settled there with his 
family. After college closed I went to the Adirondacks, 
and really didn^t go home, except for a night, till just 
before vacation, ended; so I didn^t meet the new occu- 
pant or any of his tribe. Folks spoke casually of there 
being a new family there, but it didn’t interest me. 

“ 1 felt as though I ought to put in a little time at 
home; so just about a fortnight ago I dropped down on 
the folks, and — ” 

“ Oh, come, Larry! What’s all this long preface for? 
Get down to business,” interrupted the tall young man. 

“ Don’t fret! I’m getting there. The morning after I 
arrived 1 went out and prospected round the place, felt 


12 


THE TWIH HUSSARS. 


of the COWS, looked at the hogs, patted the horses, and 
tried to show an interest in country affairs; but soon got 
tired of it, and went in to get a lively French novel I 
was reading. 1 won^t tell you the name of it for fear you 
will read it and corrupt your morals. With this solace in 
hand I located myself on a long garden-seat out on the 
lawn behind the house, and was soon absorbed. 

“ 1 must have been reading some time, when 1 was 
startled by an apple falling on the seat by my side. 
There wasnT anything very wonderful about this, except 
for the fact that I was twenty feet from the nearest apple- 
tree. Considerably puzzled, I got up and looked around, 
expecting to see a member of the family peeping from be- 
hind some corner; but no one appeared, and I finally re- 
sumed my seat and book. 

“ 1 hadnT been reading five minutes when another one 
fell, seemingly from the skies, and this one hit me on the 
boot. I got up again, and walked round so that I could 
see behind the trees, but no one was in sight. 1 was a trifle 
annoyed, as I thought some one was making game of me; 
but I had made up my mind not to notice the matter. 
One or two more fell near, but 1 kept my ej^es on my 
book. Suddenly two arrived at once, one hitting me in the 
stomach a good sharp rap and doubling me up like a jack- 
knife, and the other knocking off my hat. 

“ 1 was pretty mad by this, and jumped up to make a 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


13 


thorough search for the miscreant. I was unsuccessful, 
though I looked behind every currant bush and shrub. 
No one there. 1 even went out into the road and looked 
behind the hedge; but no trace of anything. Finally 1 
sat down, hot and disgusted, and picked up one of the ap- 
ples and examined it curiously; it was a Gravestine. Now, 
1 knew we had no Gravestine tree on our place, but right 
opposite me, in Mr. Mansfield^s yard, there was one, for I 
had hooked the apples many a time as a kid. Here was 
a clue. 

“You know there is no fence between our place and 
the next, and nothing to mark the line but the stunted 
remains of a hedge about a foot high. We boys prevented 
it ever growing any higher by everlastingly going over it 
and through it. This Gravestine tree which I speak of 
was just the other side of this diminutive hedge. I be- 
came wary, picked up my book, pulled my hat down over 
my eyes so that I could just watch the old Gravestine tree 
while apparently absorbed in my reading. The tree 
wasn^t over four rods away, but its branches were large 
and wide-spreading, and the foliage thick. Around the 
trunk was a rustic seat. 

“ 1 had not been watching long — 

“ Halloo, Larry, yelled a voice from the yard. 

“ Halloo, Dickl^^ answered Larry. “ Glad to see you. 


Be round soon.^^ 


14 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


“ No hurry about this thing, I see,^^ said Ross, filling 
his pipe and stretching out his legs. 

“ Where was 1? Oh, I know. I hadn^t been watching 
long when I saw an apple shoot out from under the leaves 
and, after describing a graceful parabola, shoot down for 
me as straight as an arrow. It landed on my shoulder, 
but I never winced; I just watched the place where it came 
from, and in a minute — 1 say, Ross, haven^t you got a 
cigar about you? I^m all out. 

“Confound you— -yes. Here, throwing him one; 
“ now go on. You did that on purpose to get a wire edge 
on my curiosity. 

Larry coolly took out his knife, cut the end off the ci- 
gar, lighed it, puffed out a great mouthful of blue smoke, 
and, after dodging “Caesar’s Commentaries,” which his 
chum hurled at him, went on: 

“ I saw the leaves move gently aside, and the bright- 
est, sweetest, most mischievous face appeared, surrounded 
by its frame of shimmering green, through which the sun 
was glancing and dancing. The eyes, sparkling with fun, 
were looking at me wickedly as though pondering on some 
further attacks. Here was a situation, and my mouth 
watered with the delightful anticipation of fun ahead. I 
had all I could do to curb myself and to keep from springing 
to my feet and shinning that tree for a nearer acquaint- 
ance with those laughing lips, but by a powerful effort of 


THE TWIN- HUSSARS. 


15 


self-restraint I sat still, and pretended to be deeply ab- 
sorbed in my book, and utterly oblivious to all else. 

“ After watching me intently for a few moments I saw 
the eyes disappear and a white hand and arm dart out in 
their place, and an apple struck near me, a little wide of 
the mark this time. In order to keep up the deception I 
sprang up, and looked about again, but, of course, without 
success. Then, shaking my head in a puzzled way, I 
sauntered over to the tree in which my fair tormentor was 
posted. Stretching myself out on the seat which ran 
around the trunk, 1 opened my book and arranged my hat 
in such a manner that 1 could see what took place in the 
tree, out of the corner of my eye,” 

“ 1 say, Larry, laughed Ross, “ that was strategy, 
wasnT it? You ought to have gone to West Point instead 
of Harvard, and studied the art of war. 

“ Well, it was a pretty good tactical move, I will ad- 
mit, replied Larry, with a satisfied smile, as he blew a big 
spiral "of smoke toward the ceiling and fiicked the ash 
from the end of his cigar. “ But to continue. As the boys 
say, ‘ I had the dead-wood on her;^ so I just took things 
comfortably, munched an apple, and looked unconcerned. 

“ All was quiet for awhile; no sound came from above. 
I was curious to see how she would get out of the scrape, 
and anxious as thunder to see the girl. Well, after a long 
wait, during which I planned all sorts of bright things to 


16 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


say, I heard a gentle movement among the leaves, as 
though some one were climbing round. I peeped up, but 
the foliage was so thick that I could only catch a glimpse 
of something white. The rustling kept on for some min- 
utes, and it seemed to me^as if she was ^trying to work 
around to the opposite side of the tree. Of course, 1 had 
to head off this little scheme, and lazily arose, stretched 
myself, and when I sat down it was fust under where the 
noise seemed to come from. After locating myself com- 
fortably I began to whistle the ‘ Torpedo and the Whale,’ 
just to comfort her, and as a kind of suggestion that I would 
^ bob up serenely ’ when any move of the above kind was 
made. When I had finished about fourteen verses I 
heard a petulant movement and smothered exclamation, 
at which 1 went at it again, and began on the fifteenth. 

“ I had now been under the tree about half an hour, 
and it was nearly noon. It must have been deucedly un- 
comfortable sitting astride a limb all that time, and I really 
began to feel rather sorry for the mischievous young wom- 
an. I meant to tire her out, but began to doubt my ability, 
and, besides, I had several times heard a voice from the 
next house calling, ‘ Patiencer! Patience!’ so 1 made up 
my mind that the game 1 had treed was Patience. It 
seemed then to be a very appropriate name, but 1 learned 
later to my cost that it was a misnomer. 

“ As there seemed no present prospect of capitulation. 


THE TWIN" HUSSAKS. 


17 


I lighted a cigarette just to pass the time, and keep her 
aware of my presence, and let her know that I was good 
for a siege. This brought matters to a focus, and there was a 
good deal of moving about. Then, suddenly, I heard a 
clear, sharp whistle, increasing in volume as the whistler 
became more bold. The notes were .sweet and clear as a 
bell, but I was a trifle disturbed when I noticed that she 
seemed to be trying to call some one's attention, and was 
not whistling a time. Who could she be after? Visions 
of irate fathers, of sharp-tongued mothers, and of big 
brothers flashed through my mind, and I glanced anx- 
iously toward the house, expecting to see some one ap- 
pear, but no one hove in sight. In fact the only living 
thing 1 could see was a solemn-looking jackass, of the 
Swiss cottage style of architecture, who was laboriously 
grubbing his dinner about ten rods away. 

“ All at once I noticed a connection between the whist- • 
ling and the Jack, for he pricked up his wilted ears, and 
slowly meandered toward my location. As he neared me 
he cast his solemn glance curiously aloft. After a long and 
intent gaze he seemed to be satisfled with his examina- 
tion, and deliberately placed himself right under the spot 
where my prisoner was concealed. 

“ He was about three feet distant from me, and he 
looked me in the eye with a solemnity and depth of mean- 
ing which the sphinx might have envied. I ran my 


18 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


tongue out at him in derision^ but I was met with such a 
look of silent contempt that I sunk back, and awaited de- 
velopments.'’^ 

“ Probably took you for one of the species, and wanted 
to scrape acquaintance, said Ross. “Wonderfully in- 
telligent animal.^’ 

“ I was wild with curiosity to see what all this meant, 
continued Larry, disdaining to notice his chum’s slur. 
The brute stood there without blinking, and kept his eyes 
fastened on me in a disconcerting manner. 

“ A great rustling among the leases over my head 
attracted my attention, and looking up suddenly, to my 
utter astonishment there flashed before my eyes a whirl- 
wind of white draperies, leaves and broken twigs. The 
next thing that I perceived was my prisoner seated calmly 
upon the Jack’s back, a little heated and tumbled, it is 
true, but fully self-possessed, and master of the situation. 
The limb was rather low, you see, and she had let herself 
down and dropped right smack on the brute’s back. It 
was neatly done, and I couldn’t help clapping my hands 
in spite of myself. ” 

“Had you on the hip, hadn’t she?” laughed Ross. 

“ What was she, as beautiful as you imagined, or did she 
prove a fraud and a deceit as most women generally do?” 

“Oh, you hold on! I’ll tell you all about it if you 
keep still. Of course 1 felt rather chagrined to be out- 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


19 


vvitted in this way, but she clearly had the best of it, so I 
threw down my book and taking off my hat made a most 
elaborate bow. Upon which she sat up as straight as an 
arrow, gave me a crushing look, and rode off on her jack- 
ass with the air of a queen. 

“ Sat on! by Jove,^^ chuckled the audience. “ That’s 
the best thing I’ve heard for a long time. I’d have given 
a fiver to have been a witness. Just think of it, the irre- 
sistible Larry Eeynolds squelched, squashed, sat upon, set 
back, put in a hole! Three cheers for the girl, I say!” 

“ You be bio wed! Wait till you hear the whole story, 
will you, and see whether 1 was squelched or not. ” 

“ Well, you’re as long winded as a hen that’s just laid 
an egg.” 

“ I watched that confounded old Jack waddle off with 
my erstwhile prisoner — by the way, Ross, that’s a good 
word, erstwhile; I picked it up of a stunning-looking girl 
from Boston who was at Bar Harbor, and I just kicked 
myself for not making better use of my opportunities. 
But how could I know that there was an infernal old don- 
key straying round that knew more than half the fellows 
in our class, and who had a private cipher code of signals 
for use between himself and that girl. And then, that 
look she gave me fairly paralyzed me — froze my blood. 
I’ve heard of the superb air of an eastern princess, but 
hers would kijock any eastern princess silly. 


20 


THE TWIN HUSSAKS. 


“At last she disappeared round the corner of the 
house, and the moment they were out of sight 1 heard a 
most outrageous burst of laughter; of course I knew 
that it was that girl laughing at me and heaping derision 
on my head. 

“ But what was she like/^ queried Boss, impatiently. 
“ Why can’t you tell a fellow?” 

“ Thought you didn’t care anything about the sex,” re- 
plied Eeynolds with provoking coolness, as he blew a 
ring of blue smoke through the open window. 

“ 1 don’t ordinarily, but it strikes me this must have 
been a mra avis, ” 

“You bet she was; and a mene tehel, and an olla po- 
drida too. 1 don’t know how to describe her exactly. 
She was one of those girls who have to be seen to be ap- 
preciated. Of course 1 can tell you that she is petite , has 
dark hair and eyes, and an olive complexion, and is rather 
of the Spanish type of beauty. In repose her face is a 
trifle sad, but when she laughs, which is a good share of 
the time, her face fairly swims in light, and her eyes ex- 
pand and grow upon you till they seem as large as those 
great pansies the florists sell now, and as deep and richly 
black, with that violet blackness of the pansy too. She 
has a wonderful effect upon you; at least, she did on me. 
She impresses herself upon you; you feel her presence as 
well as see it. If 1 were blindfolded I should know she 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


21 


were by; for when she is near me I feel as though there 
were a powerful battery somewhere in her organization 
sending compelling and subduing currents through me.^’ 

“ Quite a florid description, my boy. I congratulate 
you upon your proficiency in rhetorical expression. 

“ I\e had some practice lately. 

“Was that the end of it.^ Didn^t you see her again? 
Did this crushing defeat completely flabbergast you?’^ 

“ See her again? Of course I did. What do you take 
me for? 1 became very much attached to the country all 
at once; interested in silos, fruit culture, etc. Found the 
place quite endurable. Something to look forward to, you 
see. The next day I loafed round the garden all day hop- 
ing to get a glimpse of her. No glimpse. Didn’t show 
up. Made a few discreet inquiries of the folks about new 
neighbors. Found they didn^t know much about them, 
except their name, which was Mansfield, and that the 
family consisted of an old man, wife, and daughter. 

“ I resolved a resolve — 

“ Hope it was kept better than most of your resolu- 
tions,^^ remarked Boss, thoughtfully. 

“ Shut up! I resolved to do a little detective business, 
and know my neighbors more thoroughly. It hardly 
seemed Christian not to know your next door neighbors. 
The brief period which I had spent in her vicinity had 
magnetized me, as it were, and I was very anxious to have 


22 


THE TWIN" HUSSARS. 


an opportunity to place myself on a different footing; 
and, besides, her not appearing the next day rather 
mortified my amour propre. I took up my station perma- 
nently in the garden, laid in a supply of Maupassant’s 
novels and others of a similarly religious character, 
stocked my cigarette-case, and prepared for a siege. I 
knew the girl couldn’t hold out long in such a dull place 
as that. ” 

“ No conceit about you.” 

“ 1 know my worth,” answered Larry, cheerfully. 
“ Two days passed. No girl. The morning of the third 
day arrived, and 1 was getting confoundedly impatient. 
I had smoked so many cigarettes that my hands had the 
St. Vitus’ dance. My eyes were aching from watching the 
house while apparently reading, and I had used up my 
vocabulary of profanity, besides borrowing several of Jack 
Nason’s copyrighted cusses. By the way, did you ever 
hear any one swear so artistically, so linguistically, and so 
deftly as Jack. He is my admiration! Well, as I was 
saying, I was all played out when my erstwhile prisoner 
walked deliberately put of the house and down into the 
garden, where she wandered around among the flower-beds, 
picking a rose or two, but, mind you, not once looking in 
my direction.” 


THE TWI]!f HUSSARS. 


23 


CHAPTEE IV. 

“ She had on a white lawn dress, or something of 
that kind, and swung her shade-hat by the ribbon in her 
hand. The dress was immensely becoming to her— so 
simple, so pure, and such a set-off to her dark beauty. 
I pretended not to notice her at all, while watching her 
with all my eyes from under my hat-brim. It seemed to 
take her a long time to find the fiower she wanted, but at 
last she turned away from the garden path, and, to my 
astonishment, leaped lightly over the hedge into our gar- 
den as easily as any boy. 

“ I wondered what under the starry canopy she was 
going to do. I had become so used to surprises from this 
girl that I was on the qui vive for her next move. I 
didnT know but she would draw a pistol and practice on 
me. From her actions and demeanor it was evident that 
she was ignoring me, and was utterly oblivious of my 
presence, for she gathered her spotless skirts in one hand, 
to keep them from the still wet grass, while she held her 
hat and the roses in .the other, and hummed an air from 
a popular opera. 

** I followed her with my eyes across our garden until 


24 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


she was so far in my rear that 1 could not see her without 
turning around, and that I was bound not to do. I was 
wild to know what she was up to, but kept my eyes on 
my book, straining my ears to catch the slightest sound. 
Not a movement could I hear; all behind was still; the 
hujnming had ceased, and I was about ready to jump up 
and kick something, I was so nervous, when a sweet voice 
right behind me said: 

“ ‘ Couldn^t you read easier if you held the book right 
side up?^ 

“ Well, you could have knocked me over with a 
feather; but 1 gathered myself together, and, without 
turning round, 1 answered, stupidly enough: 

“ ‘ I was born with my eyes upside down. ^ 

“ ‘ What a remarkable thing! I see you can read 
without cutting the leaves, too. ^ 

“ This was a floorer, but I came up smiling, and 
pointing to the seat at my side with my most Chester- 
fieldian air, I said: 

“ ‘ Perhaps, as you are so good at cutting capers, you 
will sit down and cut the leaves for me. ^ 

“ ‘ Mamma always puts capers in salads,^ she replied, 
with the most innocent and ingenuous air, as she took the 
offered seat. 

“ ‘ Does she, now? And you put spice in your 


capers. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


25 


“ ‘ Your name is Larry, I believe," said she, suddenly 
turning on me with the most delightful smile, ^ and mine 
is Patience. We are neighbors now, so I thought I 
wouldn"t stand on ceremony;"" and she held out her hand 
to me in the most deliciously naive manner you ever saw. 

“ ‘ Delighted, I"m sure," 1 replied, as I took her soft 
little number five in my seven and a half. "" 

“ Cheek by the yard!"" remarked Eoss. 

“Yes; wasn"t it?"" 

“ Yours, 1 mean."" 

“Oh, mine? Well, perhaps so. At any rate, I held 
her hand as long as I could find any pretense for doing 
so, apparently forgetful that I was holding it; but when 
1 did let go it was very suddenly. I was still hanging on 
and looking things unutterable, when with her unoccu- 
pied hand she quietly and unobservedly rammed a hat-pin 
into my leg, and when I yelled out with pain, and 
dropped her hand as though it had been a nettle, she 
looked up in the most surprised way, and said: 

“ ‘ What is it? I hope you"re not ill?" 

“ ‘Oh, no! Just a momentary pain l"m subject to. 
1 have these attacks oncedn awhile." 

“ ‘ I"m so sorry!" 

“ ‘ 1 don"t think I quite take you yet" 

“ ‘ Take me? Now, what do you mean by that?" 

“ ‘ Well, I mean that I haven"t known you long 


THE TWTH HUSSARS. 


2G 


enough to fathom the depths of your kittenish disposi- 
tion. I don’t “ tumble to you,” as it were.’ 

“ ‘ But I tumbled to you yesterday.^ 

“ ‘ Yes, and very gracefully, too.’ 

‘ ‘ Do you think so? Lucky Galway was near by, or 
I might have had to stay there all night. ’ 

“ ‘ 1 suppose Galway is the solemn-looking friend who 
(5:11110 to your assistance?’ 

“ ‘ Yes, he is my friend, and does just as 1 tell him. 
What long ears you have!’ 

“ ‘ Do you think they are long enough to admit me 
as one of Galway’s companions?’ 

“ ‘ Not quite. It takes something more than long 
ears, you see. ’ 

“ ‘ Oh, thank you!’ 

“ A long silence ensued, during which she gouged out a 
great hole in the path with her heel, covering my white 
flannel trousers with dirt in the operation. I was ex- 
asperated, amused, astonished, and puzzled. 1 couldn’t 
make her out. I’ll be hanged if I could tell whether she 
was really artless and innocent, or whether she was, mak- 
ing a fool of me. I couldn’t think of a 'single bright 
thing to say, and we just sat there like two Stoughton 
bottles. But during this intermisson I managed to take 
an inventory of her. 

“ I found that she did not suffer from a close exami- 


THE TWTl^ HUSSARS. 


27 


nation. Her complexion simply perfect— peach-bloom 
and all that, you know. And those eyes! Well, they 
just made me jump every time she looked at me. I felt 
as though she could read every thought as it skimmed 
through my brain. 

“ I noticed her mouth, too; for, you know, old man, 
you are forever telling me 1 have a weak mouth, and so I 
am always examining people^s mouths, to see if I am an 
exception. Now, she had what you would call a strong 
mouth, expressive of a firm character. None of your 
Cupid bows, with down-dropping corners, but lips as 
straight as a ferule; and when they were shut you felt as 
though that settled the whole matter. They were red, 
and full, and very kissable,- however. 

“ How do you know?’’ 

“ Know? Tried ’em, of course. That comes in the 
next chapter.” 

“ Say, do you know how long you’ve been talk- 
ing?” 

“ Don’t know! Don’t care! Want me to stop?” 

And he put his feet down, as though about to get up. 

“ Oh, no; I suppose I might as well hear it all now. 
Have to go through with it some time. You’ll pes- 
ter me with this ferule-mo ii( lied girl till you meet an- 
other. ” 

“You’d have a fit if I didn’t finish it now,” replied 


28 


THE TWIH HUSSAKS. 


Larry. “ Don^t you suppose I see through you? You’re 
chock-full of curiosity, with all your appearance of in- 
difference. ” 

“Well, granted. But get down to business.” 


THE TWIH HUSSARS. 


29 


CHAPTER V. 

“ To begin where 1 left off: The silence was getting 
embarrassing, and I was just on the point of saying some- 
thing sentimental, kind of feeling my way, as it were, 
when a rhinoceros struck his monstrous, nasty head be- 
tween us, and the drum of my ear was almost ruptured by 
the most horrible blast — a kind of concatenation of all the 
devilish, discordant, harsh, jagged sounds distinguishable 
by the human ear. It sounded to me like some of those 
grand wind-ups in Wagner^s operas — e-yaw — e-yaw — 
yaw-e-e — yaw-e-yaw 

“ A rhinoceros, Larry? How in the world could a 
rhinoceros have got in your garden?’^ 

“ Well, you see, it wasn^t really a rhinoceros, but I 
thought it was when I first saw it. It was, in fact, that 
blamed old jackass, who had come round to see what we 
were up to. I nearly fainted away at the first blast, I was 
so scared, and I jumped clean into the air about five feet, 
and came down sprawling in the dirt of the path. If I 
could make as good a leap again I could get the prize for 
the running high jump. 

“ As soon as 1 could I gathered myself together and 


30 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


looked up fearfully to see what had struck me, and there 
was that girl with her arm fondly round the neck of her 
infernal jackass, and his head most languidly reposing on 
her breast. It was too much. I was too thoroughly 
startled to get up, and sat there and stared at my tor- 
mentors, who looked as unconcerned as you please. I 
could swear that the donkey winked at me; and, do you 
know. Boss, 1 believe they were donkeys that the devil 
went into in that old Bible story, and not hogs. ” 

Boss was chuckling to himself at his chumps discomfit- 
ure. But there was not a particle of false pride about 
Larry, and he always enjoyed a joke on himself as well as 
any one. In fact, he was the first to tell it. 

“ Well, did that bring things to a focus?’’ asked Boss. 

“ No, not that day. After a few moments I got up, 
with as dignified an air as I could assume under the cir- 
cumstances, and walked out of the garden. 1 don’t know 
what the girl did, for 1 didn’t look round; but I could 
hear the inseparables purring and chuckling to each other. 
The worst of it was, though, that my sister saw the whole 
performance from her chamber-window, and for the next 
few days she made my life miserable for me by innu- 
endoes, hints, and sly phrases. I expected every minute 
father would get on to it, but Sis didn’t actually give the 
thing away, though she kept skimming along the edge. 

“ After my ignominious defeat 1 saw her nearly every 


THE TWIN HUSSAES. 


31 


day, and we became the best of friends. Gradually a 
change took place in her manner toward me, and from 
the teasing, laughing tom-boy she became quite subdued, 
and even sober. At times she would break out in some 
wildness; but on the whole she was very well-behaved. 
She wouldn^t allow the slightest approach to love-making 
or familiarity, and on the one or two occasions on whicL 1 
attempted it I was met with a rebuke which tingled for 
hours. I had an awful good time with her, though. 

“ Yes, I suppose so,^^ answered Ross, dryly. 

“That girl is a study, and I must confess I havenT 
made her out yet,^’ went on Larry. “Finally, the time 
for me to leave came around, and one day, as we were sit- 
ting in the woods, under a big pine, I told her that 
the next morning I started for college. She gave me one 
look, and then was perfectly mute; would make no an- 
swer to all my persistent talk and questions. I thought 
that she was provoked with me, but could think of no 
reason. She simply stared straight before her, and said 
nothing. 

“Finally I gave it up and relapsed into silence as 
well. I was just making up my mind to move toward the 
house, when, suddenly, without a moment^s warning, she 
sprung at me with a great sob, and before 1 could recover 
from my surprise she kissed me full on the lips, and was 
off like the wind. I didn’t see her again, but I can feel 


32 


THE TWIN HUSSAES. 

that kiss now;^^ and the speaker stroked his young mus- 
tache lovingly. 

Larry seemed really affected, so Ross forebore any criti- 
cisms, and looked thoughtfully at a cast of “ Romeo and 
Juliet which stood on the mantel. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


33 


CHAPTER VL 

On the marble tablet of one of those great office build- 
ings on lower Broadway, among a long list of other occu- 
pants, is the name, “ Rossiter Valentine, Attorney at Law, 
Room 20.^^ 

Suppose we look in at No. 20. The room has but one 
occupant — a tall, earnest-looking, bearded man, who is 
sitting at a desk, gazing at a letter which he holds in his 
hand. But his eyes are not reading; they are turned in- 
ward; he is in a brown study. (1 don’t know why it should 
be a brown study any more than a green, or blue, or red 
study, but that is the phrase, and it conveys the mean- 
ing. ) Let’s peep over his shoulder, and see if we can get 
a clue to his thoughts. Why, this is no letter; it is a 
wedding invitation, and reads as follows: 

“ Mr. and Mrs. John Mansfield request the pleasure of 
your company at the wedding of their daughter Patience 
to Mr. Larry Reynolds, at St. John’s Church, Newburg, 
Wednesday, June 8th, at 5 o’clock.” 

So this is the absorbing topic on his active mind ! Not 
a very terrifying nor profound one, surely. But, hark! 
he is thinking aloud. It is a common habit among men 
of sedentary proclivities. 


34 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


“ Six years! Six years ago since Larry and I sat in 
our room that bright September day, and he told me the 
story of his first meeting with this little girl whom he is 
now about to marry. It hardly seems more than six 
months; and to think of that blessed rascaFs being faith- 
ful to her all -that time! I wouldn’t have believed it of 
him! Why, a week, was usually the limit of his flames. 
He was as inconstant as any humming-bird darting 
from flower to flower, and just sipping the cream of the 
sweetest honey from each. There must be something 
peculiar about this little woman to hav^held him so long 
and so steadfastly by her side. I really have a great curi- 
4Dsity to see her. 

“ Six years ago! Ah! those were happy days. How 
the sun used to pour into our dear old room in Hol- 
worthy, filtering through the noble old elms in the yard; 
how the merry shouts of the boys used to come drifting 
through the open window; and how sweet life was, and — 
God fbrgive us! — how little we appreciated it! 

“ So Larry is caught at last! Welii,^^ope it may be 
for the best, but 1 must confess that 1 hadn’t any great 
confidence in his staying powers. Hot that he would will- 
fully or premeditatingly go wrong, but he’s so prone to 
act upon the impulse of the moment. If I remember 
rightly his affianced isn’t a woman to be trifled with, 
either. 1 should judge, from his description, that she has 


THE TWIN HUbbARS. 


35 


a strong, passionate nature, quite Southern in its char- 
acter, which would hardly brook anything like neglect or 
coolness. 

“ And 1 am to be ‘ best man,^ and help the old boy 
put on his chains. Well, I hope he will wear them 
patiently, and that his wife will be able to put pads of 
love under the places where there is the most friction, so 
that the galling wonH be intolerable. I shall have a 
chance to see the little woman and form my own opinion 
of her. 

Six years have passed, our young attorney says. What 
have our two friends been about during this time? Of 
course, they took their degrees — Ross with honors, and 
Larry “ by the skin of his teeth;^’ and then the former 
entered the Law School, and the latter the Medical; but 
they continued to room together and were as intimate as 
time would permit. Though the Medical School was in 
town, Larry so loved the college that he put up with the 
long rides on the cars in order to keep his old room and 
chum. 

Larry did very well in medicine, and really took a 
great interest in surgery; while Ross, as usual, led his 
class in the Law School. Upon graduation the latter 
went to New York and by dint of hard work and ability 
had already Required a fair practice, and was looked upon 
as one of the rising young lawyers of the city. 

fa 


36 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


Larry managed to get into the Massachusetts General 
Hospital, as one of the house-officers, for a year; and then 
hung out his sign in one of the principal cities of New Hamp- 
shire. He had been practicing about a year, and though 
patients were few it didnH trouble Larry much; he 
smiled on those he did have, and cured them more by his 
good-humor and happy disposition than by any medicine 
he administered. If there is any virtue in mind -cure, he 
possessed that power. He could laugh a woman out of 
the megrims, joke a man^s heart disease into the realms 
of impossibility, and tickle a sick child into convulsions of 
hearty laughter. 

His presence in the sick-room was a sedative for over- 
strung nerves, a wery gleam of intellectual sunlight 
through the darkness of mental depression. Perhaps, in 
the highest sense, he was not a great and skilled physi- 
cian, but he was a successful one, and sent more on the 
road to health than to the grave-yard— and that is the 
main thing. Nothing worried him, nothing disturbed 
him, nothing frightened him; always cool and collected, 
he had faith in himself and his star, and had so much 
confidence in his future that, even on his small income 
and few patients, he resolved to carry out his long-cher- 
ished plan of getting married. Hence the invitation 
which we have read. , 


THE TWIK HUSSAES. 


37 


CHAPTER VIL 

The soft, soothing breeze of a June evening was 
faintly stirring the young leaves of the old Gravestine tree 
— leaves so young and tender that they seemed to entreat 
the breeze not to blow too hard, lest it injure them. The 
air which gently kissed the brow was fragrant with that 
sweet, earthy odor which denotes life, buds, blossoms, 
blooms, and beauty. It was the odor which makes the 
blood pulse and flow through the veins, and the heart to 
expand, and puts death and decay far away from our 
thoughts. 

The young nioon, also in the bud, hung, trembling, over 
the distant hills, as though fearful of trying to climb the 
dizzy heights of heaven, while shafts of light silvered the 
soft, downy clouds which were floating here and there aim- 
lessly, seemingly playing a heavenly game of hide-and-seek. 
A hush-7)ervaded the air, for it was too early for the 
crickets and other warm-weather insects which tune their 
merry harps in July and August. No sound broke the 
stillness unless one fancied he heard the sap climbing up 
the heart of the maples. 

“ How many years is it since that fateful morning 


38 


THE TWIN HUSSAES. 


when I first saw you, not under, but in this tree, 
Patience 

“ Six years, Larry. It hardly seems possible, though. 
But they have been happy ones, with the exception of a 
few mauvaises quart-d’heures, which I owe to you, but 
which are all forgiven now. 

And the dark eyes looked up tenderly and sweetly, and 
she laid her head back gently against the old tree, and a 
far-away look filled her eyes. Larry could not tell 
whether she was looking into the past or the future. 

Por some time no word was spoken; a dreamy silence 
such as lovers understand, and in which their thoughts 
follow and meet each other by some subtle process; a 
pressure of the hand, a glance of the eye keeping the con- 
nection and carrying the magnetic current from soul to 
soul. Larry's eyes were full of love and wondering ad- 
miration. At last he said: 

“ Patience, 1 have known you for six years. They 
have been sweet, happy years, filled with gladness and a 
new life, beginning with the day when I first saw your 
dear face among the leaves of this old tree. 1 have 
studied you. You are the only book that 1 have read, be- 
side my medical books, during that time, and my medical 
studies were child's play compared to the depths and in- 
tricacies of your character. I have lain awake nights to 
analyze you; you have danced between the lines of my 


THE TWTH HUSSARS. 


39 


surgical works; you have caused me to lose the value of many 
a lecture; but, do you know, you are as much a mystery to 
me to-day as you were when you first introduced me to your . 
donkey? There have been times when 1 have done things 
which grieved you, dear, but, believe me, 1 have been true 
at heart. I am so different from you. 1 look at life so 
differently; things which seem trivial to me are so im- 
portant to you that I fall far short of your ideal. My love 
is like one of those little meadow-brooks which wind and 
wind, and crook and turn, while yours is a great, broad, 
steady-sweeping river. Both,* however, arrive at the sea 
Just the same. Never forget that.^^ 

“ When 1 am with you this way, Larry, I believe it,^^ 
she replied, softly passing her hand over his as it lay on 
his knee; “ but I have doubted, dear, and to me doubt is 
worse than death. You say you do not understand me, 
but I am not hard to understand. Is it so strange and 
uncommon for a woman to be honest, and frank, and 
dread deceit? Does my candor seem forwardness to you? 
Do yoU'love me the less because I almost told you of my 
love before you confessed yours? Dear, love means 
eternity to me; love is my life, and when I gave my love 
to you 1 gave my life, my happiness, my existence, my 
soul into your hands. 1 think it is more to me than 
to most women; it is nearer my soul!^^ 

“ When you talk to me that way, little one, I feol 


40 


THE TWIN HUSSAES. 


afraid. I tremble lest 1 fall short of your expectations; 
lest, unwittingly, I trip and mar your life. My nature 
. differs so widely from yours. Yours is deep, strong, and 
unyielding, like those of the early martyrs, and 1 can fancy 
you undergoing any torture rather than sacrifice a princi- 
ple or fail in a duty; while mine is weaker, more insou- 
ciant, more yielding, readier to sacrifice duty to ease. I 
fear that the thumbscrew of adversity would extort a mo- 
mentary renunciation of faith from me, and that what 
might seem a crime to you would be to me a peccadillo. 
Yet, darling, in the years that are to come I will try to 
be true and live up to your ideal; I will try to be worthy 
of the pure, true love which I have won. 

“ I know you will, Larry, answered Patience, as she 
nestled up to him till her head lay close against his breast 
and the perfume of her hair intoxicated him with its deli- 
cate fragrance, “ but 1 fear myself more than you. In one 
way you do not know me. As strong as my love is, there 
is another sentiment in me which is as strong, or stronger. 
1 could not share your love; I must have it all, all, every 
particle, every minutest portion of it; 1 would not permit 
any other woman to have the smallest iota of it, and if 1 
missed a grain —and 1 should know by intuition if any were 
missing — it would kill me, Larry. Eemember that; remem- 
ber it and treasure it in your heart as you value my love 
and our happiness. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


41 


“ With God’s help 1 will, dear. To-morrow, at this 
time, you will be my wife, and 1 will try and be so good 
and true that every day of our life may be as happy as this 
perfect one. ” 

“ God bless you, dear! and good-night;” and she drew 
his head down on her shoulder and kissed him — a long, 
long kiss, while her eyes closed in silent happiness. 

Then she drew away, and went slowly toward the 
house, while Larry remained wrapped in dreamy silence, 
and the breeze sung itself to sleep. The moon had 
reached the zenith, and the flying clouds had chased each 
other below the horizon. 


43 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


CHAPTER Vlll. 

Through the oriel windows shafts of amber-colored 
light fell in narrow bands aslant the church, and little par- 
ticles of silvery dust floated through it like some mystical 
and impalpable essence. Great masses of roses filled the 
font and covered the chancel-rail, while every pillar and 
post was wreathed with smilax and flowers. The organist 
was impatiently touching the keys as though awaiting the 
moment when he would sweep one great harmony of 
sound from the pipes. The ushers hurried up and down 
the aisles with fair women and expectant girls upon their 
arms; every eye was bright, every nerve on the alert. 
Each time that the church door opened rapid glances were 
cast over shoulders to see if the bridal party had arrived. 

What an opportunity to study human nature is a wed- 
ding! If one could be hidden behind the chancel-rail, with 
a small camera, and take a series of photographs before 
and during the ceremony, and catch the varying and 
shifting expressions on the different faces: the eager an- 
ticipation and longing of sweet young eyes; the curious 
and envious glances of those whose opportunities are daily 
growing less and failing into the dim might-have-been; 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


43 


the sad regret and longing in those who onoe participated 
in a like ceremony, and whose black veils indicate the 
aching void which can never be solaced till the great veil 
which hides the mysteries of the hereafter shall be raised. 
Such a series of photographs would give the key to nearly 
all the tragedies of human life. 

But the door leading to the robing-room has opened, and 
the tall erect figure of the bishop appears, followed by two 
young men, whose faces indicate the gravity of the occa- 
sion. Slowly they follow their surpliced leader across the 
chancel, stopping outside the rail, while he enters and 
closes the gate. 

Both are refined and cultivated looking; erect and fear- 
less in their bearing; good representatives of the best 
American manhood, and there is no better. One is con- 
siderably taller than the other, and as the audience curi- 
ously watch them while waiting for the more important 
advent, they notice that the taller of the twain is stand - 
ing a little apart from his companion and in such a posi- 
tion that he can look down at him. He seems to have 
forgotten his surroundings and the great church full of 
people, and his eyes are full of tender love, such as a 
mother has for a son or an elder brother for a younger, 
while his parted lips appear to move as though his 
thoughts were taking form unconsciously. 

One grand burst of melody, and the wedding march 


44 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


from “Lohengrin/^ so familiar and yet so grand, so beauti- 
ful, so dearly loved by all those who have music in their 
hearts, poured out upon the immense audience, pulsing 
and vibrating among the groined arches and fluted pillars; 
the broad doors swung open, and the anxiously awaited 
entered, led by an erect, beautifully formed girl in sim- 
ple but perfectly fltting white. 

Then the bride approached, scarcely touching her father^s 
arm, walking as proudly and fearlessly as one of the grande 
dames of the old French nobility, her eyes fixed with glis- 
tening intensity upon one figure and face, every feature 
expressive of endless and passionate love. As they reached 
the chancel steps the bridegroom advanced to meet them, 
and his eyes met hers with a look which was eloquent with 
promise. 

He took the hand fearlessly held out to him, and they 
advanced to the altar-rail. The bishop began the impress- 
ive service of the church. 

When the first notes of the organ broke the waiting 
stillness, the taller of the two men standing in the chancel 
started as though suddenly recalled to himself, and glanced 
quickly down the aisle at the approaching cortege. His 
eyes rapidly sought out the central figure and followed 
her as she walked slowly toward the chancel. At first his 
glance betokened simple curiosity, but as he noticed the 
proud, noble carriage of the head, the fearless, open 


THE TWIK HUSSAES. 


45 


brow, and the honest, outspoken love shining from her 
eyes, curiosity deepened into interest. 

Unconsciously, as they neared the rail, he drew nearer, 
to get a better view. It struck him as something 
he had never seen before — a new kind of woman. 

This tall lawyer, this closely applied student, his whole 
soul in his work, his strong mind fixed on future success, 
had had no time for woman^s friendship, and his knowl- 
edge of women was very limited. His friends had all been 
men, and men wedded to books rather than to women. 
He was slow to form intimacies, but when once "formed 
they were lasting. He was true as the needle to the pole. 

His idea of women had been gathered principally from 
what he had heard his chum Larry say about them and 
his observations of Larry^s friends. He had unconsciously 
absorbed the impression that they were light, inconstant, 
and a stumbling-block in the way of a man who wanted 
to succeed in life. Consequently, he had shunned their 
acquaintance, and had got along very well without them, 
he thought. But here was, apparently, a revelation; here 
was a woman whose nobility of soul shone from her eyes; 
here was a woman who needed no enthusiastic description; 
no words could speak more plainly nor more surely of 
her absolute and undying faithfulness, her high and noble 
nature, than her dark, expressive eyes, her broad, open 
brow. 


46 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


In spite of his views in regard to women, in spite of 
the fact that he had purposely shunned them all his life, 
there was deep down in Ross’s heart an indistinct and 
shadowy ideal, a woman whom he dreamt that some time, 
in the dim, vague future, he might meet. As he looked 
at this happy, tear-dimmed bride he felt that he had met 
his ideal; his shadow had become a reality, and was about 
to be married to his best friend. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


47 


CHAPTER IX. 

How had Larry Reynolds, careless, reckless, inconstant, 
won this woman? The bringing together of two such 
people seemed strange to him, somehow. Her nature was 
evidently as strong and fearless as Larry^s was weak; hers 
would be the controlling spirit. 

And then Ross felt a spasmodic twinge of jealousy and 
anger sweep through him. Why was it that everything 
good, everything agreeable, enjoyable, sweet and gracious, 
seemed to fall into the lap of this happy-go-lucky fellow 
who never put forth an effort to deserve them, while he, 
who worked like a slave and denied himself every indul- 
gence, was refused them? The next moment he was 
ashamed of the thought, and mentally begged pardon and 
forgiveness of his friend, whose many good qualities none 
knew so well as he. Who more kind, more loving, more 
generous, more forgiving than Larry? Whom loved he 
better, or who had more affection for him? 

The ceremony was over, and Larry was a benedict, and 
merry toasts were passing from mouth to mouth at the 
wedding-breakfast. Larry had given his friend the seat of 
honor at the right of the bride, and in her sweet and 


48 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


womanly way, she tried to draw this quiet student from 
his shell. 

“ Do you know, 1 feel quite well acquainted with 
you already, said she, “ for Larry has told me so many 
things of you.'’ ^ 

Ross blushed slightly as he replied that Larry was his 
best and oldest friend. 

“ Yes, I was inclined to be jealous of you at first, for he 
sung your praises in season and out, and he never had a 
story to tell in which your name did not enter. You 
seemed to be his ideal of goodness in man.’^ 

“1 know,"" laughed Ross, ‘"that Larry always had 
some ridiculous notions about me. Just because I was a 
bit studious and a trifle grave he gave me credit for a 
hundred virtues I did not possess."" 

“ I know he is always comparing himself to you to his 
own disparagement. "" 

‘"And for that reason you were rather prejudiced 
against me, rather inclined to find me a disagreeable, me- 
thodical kind of a chap, were you not?"" 

“No, not exactly,"" she replied, with a shy smile; 
“but I wasn"t altogether prejudiced in your favor. 
But,’" turning a frank and smiling face to his, “I am 
going to be honest with you. 1 like you now, and we will 
be friends, shall we not?"" 

And, without thinking where they were, she held out 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


49 


her hand, which Ross grasped in some confusion, and 
with a glow at his heart which he could not suppress. 

“ Here, here!’" cried Larry, who had noticed this lit- 
. tie drama. “ What’s all this? Do you suppose 1 am to 
allow this right under my eyes, and on the day of my 
wedding, too? Ross, you foxy old rascal! what do you 
mean? You’re a pretty friend! You’re a nice lest man ! 
Who was the man who was always preaching to me about 
flirting, etc. ? And then to come to my wedding in this 
capacity, and before I have been married an hour, go to 
flirting disgracefully with my wife! I’m ashamed of you! 
That’s what I am — ashamed of you!” 

All eyes were turned upon the discomfited student, 
who was completely overcome by this unexpected turn of 
affairs. This was “ nuts ” for Larry, who enjoyed it 
hugely, knowing how sensitive Ross was, and be looked 
around the table, winking, and calling everybody’s atten- 
tion to his chum’s red cheeks. ^ But the one who was re- 
sponsible for the mischief was not at all disturbed. She 
simply looked up laughingly at her husband’s face, and 
said: 

“ We were only making a compact of friendship.” 

The conversation soon took another turn, and was for- 
gotten by all but one of the principal actors. Ross had a 
chance to recover himself under cover of the general con- 
versation, but all the remainder of the day he was pos- 


50 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


sessed by a strange, unaccountable feeling — a feeling 
which he likened to himself to the sensation one would 
have in discovering a new world or continent, but a world 
between which and the discoverer rolled a deep, unfath- 
omable flood. At one moment he wanted to spring to his 
feet and rush forth into the open air and sunshine, to 
revel in his new discovery; but the next he sank back, 
bitterly realizing that the discovery was valueless to him. 
The mine had been pre-empted before he knew of its ex- 
istence; the pure, free gold was to pour into the lap of 
another whom he feared was incapable of appreciating or 
refining it. 

And the lawyer returned to his office, with its somber 
rows of russet-colored books, its pigeon-holes of musty 
papers, its cold, cheerless walls and its lonesomeness. 
Why had it never appeared this way to him before i* He 
had never felt the loneliness of his life till now. His 
books and his work had been sufficient for him; but, 
somehow, to-night, as he sat in the dusk, with his head 
bowed upon his hand, a vision kept dancing before his 
eyes. A vision of a room lighted by soft, shaded lamps, 
a fire dancing merrily on the hearth; books and pictures, 
pictures and books everywhere; children playing before 
the fire, and a woman^s figure presiding and dominating 
over ail— a woman^s face, which, more than the dancing 
fire-light, more than the shaded lamps, illuminated and 


THE TWIH HUSSARS. 


51 


filled the room with pure yet penetrating light — the light 
of love, the light of home. 

How dark the streets seemed that night; how lonely 
the houses looked; how little there seemed to live for; 
how empty all that he had deemed most worth working 
for! If he should gain the very summit of his ambition — 
what then? And one day had changed it all! 


5 % 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


CHAPTER X 

Dr. Larry Reynolds was the name on the sign 
which was fastened over the door of a pretty little cottage 
which sat well back from the street and had a rose gar- 
den in front of it, fragrant just now with countless roses 
of every variety, from the tea to the jacqueminot. It was 
not merely a house, a place of shelter, but it was a home, 
as could be seen by the tasteful draperies, its window- 
seats, and broad, welcoming doors. Larry’s wife had every 
faculty necessary to fill the house with cheerful, hopeful 
love, and to smooth the little mountains of friction and 
trouble of every-day life into the level plain of tran- 
quillity and peace. While Larry prescribed for the phys- 
ical aches and pains she assuaged the mental worries and 
nervous, imaginative troubles. Hers was, as Ross had im- 
agined, almost an ideal nature, and it would have been 
difficult, on short acquaintance, to pick a flaw in her: 
beautiful as the conception of the poetic fancy of an 
artist; impetuous, yet thoughtful of the feelings and hap- 
piness of others; gay and riante, yet earnest and sincere 
in everything she undertook; loving amusement with a 
child’s love, and yet deeply religious. 


THE TWm HUSSAK8. 


58 


But she had her weak point. There was an unprotect- 
ed joint in her armor; her love was Italian in its fierce- 
ness, and as exacting as the love of the passionate senoritas 
of sunny Italy. Where she loved she brooked no inter- 
ference; she would allow'no invasion of her rights; every 
particle of the loved one^s affection must be shed on her, 
every iota of his care and attention must be accounted 
for. 

' Almost from the first, Larry stepped into a good prac- 
tice. Whether it was his cheeriness and lonJiomie, or 
whether he was really a skillful physician, I do not know; 
but family after family attached itself to him, until 
he had all he could swing, and his reputation spread — for 
nothing succeeds like success, even in medipine. It was 
only now and then that he was called to sign a burial 
certificate. 

It must be admitted that his wife was jealous of the 
time he spent away from her in the practice of his pro- 
fession; but there seemed no way to prevent that, and so she 
resigned herself to the inevitable, though sometimes, when 
he was called to attend some young and pretty woman, 
she felt a strange, sharp contraction of the heart. 

Larry gradually fell into the rut of hard work and 
ceaseless visits which a country practice entails. Had any 
one told him a few years before that he would be con- 
tented to settle down in this way, his wife his only com- 


54 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


pan ion, his newspaper, book, and pipe his only recreation, 
he would have laughed incredulously; but so it was. JNow 
and then he wondered what Eoss would say if he could 
see him thus engrossed in work and devoting himself 
faithfully to one woman. He kept up a ragged corre- 
spondence with his chum, but since his marriage Eoss’s 
letters had become less and less frequent, and the inter- 
vals between were longer and longer. The few that did 
arrive were stiff and formal, and seemed written simply 
to fulfil] a duty, and were far from the bright letters he 
was wont to write. There was an element of coldness, a 
mysterious something which entered into them, a lack of 
the old boyish candor. Larry was surprised and hurt by 
it, but could think of no cause, unless it was his^ marriage; 
but apparently he had approved of his wife most de- 
cidedly at the time of the wedding. Surmising, however, 
that this might be the case, he seldom mentioned his wife 
in his letters, and Eoss, for reasons of his own, never 
spoke of her when he wrote. 

Days rolled into weeks, weeks into months, and 
months accumulated into years; every day brought new 
patients, every month an increase of care, each year an 
accumulation of responsibility. It is the pet idea of the 
successful business or professional man that there is a 
good time coming, in which he will have leisure to travel, 
read, enjoy himself, recreate, make the best of his abili- 


THE TWIH HUSSAKS. 


55 


ties. The wings of his imagination carry him bounding 
toward the ideals and ambitions of his youth. But the 
time never comes, the opportunity never materializes. 
The more successful he is, the less chance that his dreams 
will ever be realized; and perhaps it is well to have this 
beacon luring us on, this will-o’-the-wisp ever dancing be- 
fore us. If we knew that we should live and die in the 
same rut of busy cares that we are working in, if we could 
look into the future and see that our life was always to be 
as humdrum as that of our neighbors, we should “ lay 
down the shovel and the hoe,” and pray to join “old 
Uncle Ned.” 

Larry became a steady, industrious practitioner, and, 
take it all in all, his life was a happy one. When a man 
has a successful and increasing business or profession, 
when he feels himself a power in the community, and 
notes that as the years pass he is making a broader mark 
on the records of time, cutting an ever wider swath as the 
scythe of experience becomes stronger, keener, and better- 
tempered, he can but enjoy an inner satisfaction, espe- 
cially when, at evening, after a hard day’s work, he can 
return to a loving wife, a sympathetic companion, and, 
donning the dressing-gown of ease and the slippers of 
comfort, toast his shins before the cheery fire of content- 
ment, while the winds of trouble and adversity blow 
harmlessly against the pane outside. 


56 


THE TWIN HCSSARS. 


But Larry’s reformation wasn’t absolutely complete, 
and there were moments, it must be confessed, when there 
crept into his heart a little longing for something more 
exciting than the amputation of a leg or a post-mortem 
examination; a desire to get away for a brief time from 
the humdrum of country practice to enjoy the excitements 
and fevers of metropolitan life. He hungered for the 
flesh-pots of Egypt— and who does not, once in awhile? Who 
is there but has sometimes a thirst for a long-desired pleas- 
ure, a panting for the delicious wickednesses of life from 
which we are debarred by our consciences and the encir- 
cling lives which surround us? We know we shall never 
enjoy them, that if they were placed right within our 
reach we should not taste them; but we often go to sleep 
with the dream wandering .aimlessly through our minds, 
to be taken up by our sleeping fancies and worked by the 
magic pencil of somnolence into strange, airy, and beau- 
tiful realities, through whose mazes we wander on the 
wings of elysium. 


THE TWII^ HUSSARS. 


57 


CHAPTER XL 

During his college years, and while he was pursuing 
his medical studies, Larry had visited nearly every part of 
the United States, and had taken a summer ^s trip abroad. 
Being well supplied with funds, there <iwere few pleas- 
ures or amusements which he had not tasted. Now 
and then there were times when the recollection of these 
past pleasures swept over him like a tidal wave, and the 
fragrance of the spray of unforgotten delights intoxicated 
his brain. At such moments his wife would watch his 
expressive face and wonder jealously and anxiously what 
happy thoughts were stealing his mind from the present 
and from her. She knew by woman’s keen intuition 
that his thoughts were not of her, and gradually they gave 
rise to suspicion and fear. 

Whenever she saw him in one of these brown studies 
she grew uneasy and was unhappy for days. She fell to 
brooding and guessing, and all the train of jealous tor- 
ments which follow in the train of such forebodings stung 
and pinched her as with fiery pincers. 

This desire to visit once more the scene of his former 
pleasures and triumphs grew upon Larry until it became a 


58 


THE TWIK HUSSAKS. 


mania, and in order to quench his longing he at last re- 
solved to visit New York. But how to carry out the plan? 
He had never been away since his marriage without taking 
his wife with him, and he feared that the very fact of his 
wanting to go alone would make her unhappy and sus- 
picious. He was much surprised, therefore, when he 
broached the subject of his visit to his wife to find that 
she quietly acquiesced in it, and made no objection what- 
ever. This reliefed his mind of a great burden, and he 
went about his preparations for departure. He did not 
notice the sorrowful look in her eyes, nor the watchful 
scrutiny with which she examined his face. He could not 
perceive the storm of fear, doubt, and anguish which 
really agitated the little woman^s heart, nor the paroxysms 
of grief to which she gave way when alone. 

At last the date set for his trip arrived, and Larry 
took the train after bidding his wife an affectionate good- 
bye. She seemed very quiet and unconcerned, he thought, 
and he was rather piqued by it; but was still glad not to 
have a scene, which was what he had feared, xiis excuse 
for the trip was the purchase of a set of surgical instru- 
ments, those which he had being slightly antiquated and 
hardly up to date. 

Lest the reader should do this young man an injustice, 
let me say that Larry’s motives in taking this trip were 
really not very bad. He* really needed the instruments. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


59 


and he proposed to make them the excuse for a little 
harmless diversion, a few visits to the theater, a ball or 
two, a convivial dinner with a bottle of extra dry. That 
was all. Surely nothing very bad about that, and proba- 
bly, if he had frankly told his wife of his craving for a lit- 
tle excitement of this kind, she would have told him to 
“ go and behave himself;^’ but he lacked just that firm- 
ness of character which would have enabled him to boldly 
declare his wishes, and hid his real purpose behind a par- 
tially fictitious screen of necessity. Larry was aiaturally 
open and honest, and in carrying out this partial subter- 
fuge he probably showed in his face and actions to 
the keen eyes of his wife that he was hiding something 
from her. 

His train left at half-past three in the afternoon, and 
comfortably ensconced in the smoking-compartment of 
the Pullman, with a good novel and a fragrant Havana 
between his teeth, he was hurried on his way to New 
York. At 7:30 the same evening another train left the 
city for the same point, and just before it pulled out of 
the station, a closely veiled woman in a snug traveling-suit 
stepped out of the waiting-room and quickly entered the 
car. No one, with the possible exception of the station- 
master, who looked at her keenly, seemed to recognize her; 
but if Larry Reynolds had been there he would have 
started with amazement probably. 


60 


THE TWIN- HUSSAKS. 


This train followed its predecessor swiftly, but the 
veiled lady read no book nor raised her veil. She only 
stared steadily out into the ‘gathering darkness, and fol- 
lowed with her eye the reflection of the train lights which 
sped along parallel to her window in an endless race. 


THE TWIK HUBBARS. 


61 




CHAPTEE XIL 

The next day, iu one of the rooms of the Fifth Ave- 
nue Hotel, a young woman was intently examining a 
morning paper. She seemed to be hunting for some- 
thing, which at last fell under her eye; for she bent over 
the sheet and glanced hastily down a column, then sud- 
denly she paused and read aloud : 

Larry Eeynolds, 0 , 

The column she was examining was the list of hotel 
arrivals at the leading hotels of the city — that column 
which is the means of many an exposL Apd the hotel 
whose register was graced with Larry^’s flowing signature 
was the Hoffman House, almost within a stone^’s-throw of 
where she was sitting. 

Yes, Larry was at the Hoffman. He had arrived early 
that morning, taken the best room he could get, eaten a 
sumptuous breakfast, strolled into the magnificent bar of 
the house and admired the many really valuable works of 
art, including the great painting for which the house is 
famous, and which he examined through the amber lights 
of an American cocktail; and then walked slowly down to 
his old chumps office, thoroughly enjoying the sense of 


63 


THE TWIN HESSARS. 


freedom, the crowded streets, the rattle of the carriages, 
the hurrying crowds, of people of every degree, and all the 
thousand and one sights and sounds of metropolitan life. 

Boss was of course surprised and overjoyed to see 
Larry, and, throwing his books into a corner, prepared to 
devote himself to entertaining and enjoying his friend. 
When they had lighted their cigars and got their feet 
sufficiently elevated to allow their brains to work easily 
and smoothly. Boss said: 

.“Of course 1 am deucedly glad to see you, but I canH 
help being a little curious, and asking the rather imperti- 
nent question, ‘ What are you here for?^ 

“ Well, 1^11 tell you,^^ replied Larry, deliberately. 
“ First, to have a little fun, a bit of relaxation, a slight 
relief from .the routine of country practice, and incident- 
ally to pick up a few surgical instruments. 

“ Your wife is with you, 1 suppose,^^ said Boss, rather 
guardedly, and in a careless manner. 

“ No, I’m alone. To tell the truth, I came over to 
have a little fling, a bit of sport that I wouldn’t care to 
have my wife participate in or know of.” 

“ Larry — ” began Boss, with a pained look in his eyes. 

“ Oh, you needn’t put on that look, nor think Tm go- 
ing to do anything I’d be ashamed of. I won’t even 
break a commandment. My fun will be of the harmless 
kind, in which your saintsliip can join without soiling 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


63 


your wings, and will consist more in watching others enjoy 
themselves than in participating ourselves. 

“ Well,'’^ said Ross, “ if that’s your object, I’m with 
you, and we’ll see what we can see;” and a relieved ex- 
pression softened the grim lines of his mouth. “ 1 per- 
ceive, by the odor of Tom Gin and orange-peel that ac- 
companied you into the room, that you have already 
begun your harmless fun, and had your matutinal cock- 
tail, and probably followed it by a luxurious breakfast; so 
I won’t ask you to eat anything till later.” 

“Yes, my dear boy. I have offended my country- 
bred stomach with one of the Hoffman House concoctions, 
and gorged myself sufficiently for a few hours. Now, 
what are you going to do to amuse me?” 

A comical expression spread over Ross’s face. 

“I don’t know. When a man comes to New York 
with such intentions as yours he ought to apply to one of 
the gilded youth. It is hardly complimentary to me. I 
take it you don’t care to visit the Metropolitan Gallery, 
nor make calls on any of the ‘ Four Hundred,’ and that a 
ride on the ‘ elevated ’ would hardly satisfy your craving 
for excitement.” 

“Right you are, old boy! None of that for me. 
Well, if you don’t know what to do, I will take the helm. 
You never did have any faculty of amusing yourself. I 
always had to knock any kind of fun into you with a club. 


64 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


ril just map out a programme for to-day, to begin with, 
and then, by to-morrow, I'’]! have something else thought 
out^^ 

“For Heaven^s sake! how long are you going to 
stay?” cried Ross, pretending to be dismayed at the 
thought of a succession of such days as he could see before 
him. 

“ I don’t know — week or two, possibly,” said Larry, 
enjoying his friend’s tribulations. 

“ I’ll stand it as long as I can, Larry, but don’t be 
surprised if 1 leave you in the lurch and turn up missing 
some morning.” 

“ I won’t let you escape. Never fear!” 

“ What’s your first move?” asked Ross, eying his old 
chum with internal amusement, and noticing that he h^d 
lost none of his college ways and manners. 

“ There isn’t much we can do till night, but we’ll hire 
the best rig we can get for money, and drive the balance 
of the afternoon. As soon as I finish this cigar I’ll go 
and get the team. Wouldn’t trust you to pick out a 
wheelbarrow.” 


THE TWIH HUSSARS. 


65 


CHAPTER XlII. 

When Ross, summoned by a boy to come down to the 
sidewalk, arrived at the street, he saw Larry perched upon 
the driver’s seat of a high drag, to which was attached a 
tamj^m of very English-looking cobs, the very cobbiest of 
cobs, with harness heavy enough for a dump cart. AVith 
an inward hope that none of his friends or clients would 
see him, Ross climbed up beside his friend and away they 
sped, up through Fifth Avenue and out toward Central 
Park. Larry enjoyed it hugely, and being a good driver, 
kept the spirited horses moving at a lively gait, and his 
tongue likewise. 

The terminus of their drive was Delmonico’s, where 
Larry drew up in fine style, and they were soon laboriously 
engaged in eating their way through a most intricate bill of 
fare laid out by the gentleman from the country. Larry 
insisted on sampling all the most costly and luxurious 
wines, and gradually a warm south of France feeling be- 
gan to steal over them, and a mantle of satisfaction and 
geniality, a kind of mental beatitude, spread over the twain. 

Two front orchestra-chairs at the opera bouffe that 
evening were graced by these amiable gentlemen, and a 
delicate but highly spiced supper afterward sent them to 


THE TWIN HUSSAES. 


C6 


bed some hours after the town clock in Larry’s native 
town had pealed the midnight hour. 

For two or three days our friends continued this sort of 
thing, changing their dining-place each day, and sipping 
the honey which lies so temptingly exposed to the bill of 
the man with money in his i)urse. But Ross soon tired of 
it. It was unsuited to his taste, and he longed for the 
quiet of his dreary office and the companionship oj his 
books. During the afternoon of the fourth day he told 
Larry frankly that he had had enough, and if he, Larry, 
wanted more, he must go it alone. After some demur- 
ring, the latter concluded to make one more night of it, 
and then leave for home the following day. 

His plans had been made for this night for some days, 
and while he would have been glad of Ross’s company, 
still he felt amply able to find a little amusement by him- 
self. 1 think every man likes now and then to get off by 
himself, and be absolutely independent; having no one to 
consult, no one to object. Even the best of friends some- 
times tire one, and their well-mea%t protestations and 
remonstrances are offensive. 

While reading his paper at breakfast on the morning of 
his arrival, he had noticed that the Arion Ball, the annuaj 
masked ball of the society of that name, was to be held 
that night, and for years Larry had longed to see one of 
these balls, which are the talk of the town, and fill col- 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


67 


umns of newspapers all over the country for days after 
they have occurred. Convivial spirits come from every 
part of the land to attend them^ and if they don't have a 
good time it is not their fault. All his life Larry had heard 
of them, and of the entertaining and diverting perform- 
ances to be seen there, and the moment his eyes fell on 
this advertisement he resolved to be present. He did not 
mention it to Loss, for fear he would oppose it, and he 
had decided to go, and go alone. 

After leaving his chum, he spent part of the afternoon 
in purchasing the instruments for which he had ostensibly 
come to New York, and then looked up a theatrical cos- 
tumer, in order to get a rig for the ball. Costume after 
costume was shown him, but he was rather finicky about 
it, and could not find one to suit him, until he happened 
to notice in a case a lot of uniforms. When asked about 
them, the proprietor said they were uniforms which had 
been used by an opera troupe, and were all in good condi- 
tion. Larry tried on several which were exactly alike, and 
finally found one tl>at fitted him to perfection. It was 
the uniform of a mounted hussar, with the chapeau, tight- 
fittiug coat, trousers, top-boots, etc. After ordering the 
outfit sent to his rooms, he made his way back to the 
hotel. 

A little before the hour advertised for the ball, Larry 
stepped into a carriage, a heavy cloak thrown over his uni- 


68 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


form. As he closed the door he noticed a coupe stand- 
ing just to the rear of his, as though waiting for some one, 
but thought nothing of it, as it was customary to see a line 
of carriages at the entrance. If, however, he had looked 
back, he would have noticed that the coupe followed his, 
and that every now and then a woman's head was thrust 
out of the open window to see if his carriage was in sight. 

When his cab stopped at the entrance to the theater, 
the one behind drew up also, and a closely veiled woman 
followed him up the steps and through the wide-open 
doors, through which crowds of men and women were hur- 
rying. Carriages were arriving from every direction, emp- 
tying their loads of laughing, elbowing people, all closely 
muffled and each one with bowed head, in order to keep 
his or her identity from his neighbor. 

In the broad entrance halls and stairways all was hurry 
and confusion. The laughing, pushing crowd jostled each 
other good-naturedly as they poured on toward the dressing- 
rooms. Larry allowed himself to be carried by the stream up 
the broad stairs and on into the rooms set apart for the gen- 
tlemen to remove their coats and prepare for the masquer- 
ade. He looked curiously at the people about him, trying 
to make out what sort of an assemblage he was in. He 
wondered what class and condition of men attended these 
balls. But every one was so carefully wrapped and veiled 
that their faces were invisible. Even the men had their 


THR TWIN" HUSSARS. 


69 


coat collars turned up high so as to hide their faces. So 
he had to satisfy himself by scanning their dress and 
watching their manners. It occurred to him, however, 
that you could hardly judge a person by his or her man- 
ners at a baH like this where they had come with the ex- 
press idea of having a lark, and would be likely to act as 
badly as they dared. 

Nearly all were well-dressed, many richly, and their 
manners, while a trifle boisterous, were within bounds. 

When he, with his unknown companions, reached the 
dressing-rooms set apart for the gentlemen, the work of 
removing coats and wraps began, but before taking off his 
outside garments and thus exposing himself to any chance 
acquaintance who might be present, he followed the exam- 
ple of those near him and adjusted his mask. When the 
coats were thrown off, a motley assemblage was disclosed, 
and many a sly and smothered laugh was evoked as the 
occupants of the room examined each other. 

Larry looked very handsome in his hussar uniform, 
which fitted him to perfection, and his blonde hair peeped 
out from under his cap in a most captivating fashion. 
When he had buckled on his sword, h6 walked bj^ I he 
cheval glass, and felt a good deal of satisfaction at the fig- 
ure there represented. His tall and erect form, his broa.l 
shoulders and athletic build, were just suited to the cos- 
tume, and he looked the full-fledged hussar to the life. 


70 


THE HUSSARS. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

His mask securely fastened he strolled out of 
the dressing-room with a feeling of security and pleasure. ^ 
In the great ball-room all was movement, glitter and ex- 
citement. Though it was early yet, the hall was well 
filled, and the strains of a dreamy, rhymthic waltz fell 
softly upon the pulsating air; while on every side great 
tropical plants, beds of flowers and masses of foliage in- 
toxicated the senses with their dewy fragrance. Thou- 
sands of electric lights peej^ed from among the leaves, 
shedding lambent flames of many colors from among the 
masses of green, and suggesting vistas of rarer beauty and 
delight beyond. Great “ Jack roses in beds and 
clusters were swelling wider and wider, and exposing more 
and more of their entrancing sweetness until the radiant 
petals could expand no further and the closely guarded 
heart lay open to the view. 

Xot only on the floor were the gay maskers to be seen, 
but the boxes were filled with costumes representing every 
period of the world’s history; white arms gleamed beside 
black coats, and blue eyes vied with gray in sowing broad- 
cast their dangerous glances. . But while Larry reveled in 


THE TWIX HUSSAE:^, 


71 


the music and the wealth of light and fragrance, they but 
served as the frame to the picture upon which his eye 
dwelt; they were but the golden lining to the cup; the 
contents were what fascinated him. His eye wandered 
over the brilliant scene, gathering in at a glance this 
patchwork of the grotesque, the severe, the beautiful, the 
ugly, the ridiculous, the solemn, the dignified and the un- 
dignified. The priest hobnobbed with his satanic majesty; 
the black-veiled nun walked arm in arm with Punch; 
Marie Antoinette whispered with Dr. Jekyll; Lord Dun- 
dreary chaffed Macbeth; while the Eoman senator waltzed 
with a ballet girl. 

Movement, action, hilarity, excitement, glistening 
eyes, sharp questions, quick retorts; here a loud burst of 
laughter; there a chorus of applause; dancing, singing, 
chaffing; each one following his bent, and all making the 
most of the flying hours; and the red wine flowed, and the 
pop of the champagne cork was like the patter of rain on 
a tin roof, softened and subdued by distance and the 
sound of music, and the champagne stirred the heart’s 
blood, and the blood rushed through the veins, and set the 
* feet in motion and the brain on fire, and — 

Into the thickest of it wandered our country physician, 
enjoying the scene to its full. Here was life, here the 
pulses stirred, here was intoxication for all the senses. 
What mattered it for the moment that there was a to- 






72 


IHE IWIIT HUSSAKS.' 


morrow, that there was a hereafter. He breathed in the 
heavy- scented, music-laden air, he opened the portals of 
his brain to allow the waves of melody to roll through. 
He gazed on beautiful women, who took no pains to hide 
their physical loveliness; white arms, snowy bosoms, 
lustrous eyes and twinkling feet surrounded him and 
hemmed him in on every side. He could not escape if he 
would, and would not if he could. He felt as though he 
was sinking into an ocean of incense; as though the sirens 
with their pearly arms and fathomless eyes were drawing 
him down to some satanic paradise; but he had no desire 
to resist; he yielded most readily to the beckoning hands; 
he welcomed their warm breath on his cheek. 

In all this magic scene he felt himself simply a passive 
onlooker, a mere spectator carried on with the stream, nor 
tried to take a part. Flashing eyes were tempting him to 
join the mad dancers at every turn, and empty seats be- 
side snowy loveliness stared him in the face from many a 
flowery grotto; but he had no idea of passing certain 
bounds which he had set before him, and the intoxicating 
revel swept on and left him unharmed. He had come 
simply to see it, to enjoy it, to bask in it — nothing more. 

So absorbed had he been in the enjoyment of the scene 
that he had not noticed a woman wearing a plain domino, 
who had followed him like a shadow from the moment 
he entered the room, always just behind him, but 


THE TWIN HUSSAES. 


73 


near enough to watch every movement and catch 
every, glance of the eye. When he advanced the domino 
followed; when he stood still the domino was motionless. 

' Now and then women with bright eyes flashing from 
beneath their masks stopped him and engaged him in con- 
versation, but after chaffing them for a few moments in a 
good-natured way, he passed on, not wishing to follow up 
liis opportunities. His part was that of a looker-on, and he 
did not desire to become an active unit in the fast and 
furious fun. 

As he was slowly wandering about the hall, speculating ■ 
as to where all these gay and laughing people came from, ’ 
who they were in private life, what their occupation, sta- 
tion and income, he suddenly started with a look of 
amused wonder. Eight in front of him was a man wear- 
ing exactly the same costume as that he had on; but there 
would have been nothing remarkable in that if his figure, 
carriage, hair and eyes, and his general appearance had 
not been the perfect counterpart of his own. 

“ Well,” thought Larry, “ this is curious! Here’s my 
double. I’ve often seen myself in the glass but never in 
the flesh. I must look him over and see how I look. 
This man might be my twin brother. Why, he’s perfect! 
and my best friend wouldn’t know the differnce, at least 
with the mask on. I wonder if his face is as much like 
me as the rest of him? Probably not.” 


74 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


The man, who, like Larry, had rather a military car- 
riage, tall, erect and well proportioned, was talking in a 
low tone, and evidently very earnestly, to a woman in full 
evening dress, and her beautiful arms were an indication 
of other beauties concealed by her mask. She was nerv- 
ously opening and shutting her fan, while the man leaned 
toward her and spoke hurriedly close to her ear. 

“ Kerens a little comedy or tragedy going on which I’ll 
watch, for want of something better to do,” thought 
Larry, and he took up his station a few feet away near some 
flowering plants, where he could see without being observed. 

The two talked for a few moments longer, and then, 
after seemingly coming to some understanding, they sepa- 
rated and walked in different directions. The man ap- 
peared preoccupied, and Larry followed him with an idle 
curiosity. He seemed to have no particular object in 
view, although he would occasionally look sharply around 
him as though fearful of being watched. Larry had not 
been long pursuing this quarry ere he found that he had a 
companion in the chase. Quite near him, and always 
keeping at a certain distance from the hussar, was a 
woman wearing a black domino which completely covered 
her. Nothing was visible except her hands, which were 
small and delicate, but he could see a pair of jet black I 

eyes fixed steadily upon the unsuspecting object of their j 
joint pursuit. J 


THE TWIH HESSARS. 


75 


“ Kerens another link in the chain/’ thought Larry, 
“ and it begins to look more like a tragedy than a comedy^ 
for those black eyes have a very sad look, and are surely 
dangerously out of place here. What a superb carriage 
the little woman has! and how she seems to make a path 
for herself just by a glance or an unconscious movement 
of the hand. She must be an imperious little thing.” 
And he noticed that one or two men who attempted to 
draw her into flirtation were quickly sent about their busi- 
ness in a very peremptory fashion. 

This little scene within a scene interested Larry im- 
mensely, and he dropped all else to watch these two, all 
unconscious that he in turn was being watched by a pair 
of ferret-like eyes, looking out from under a brown hood, 
and that a figure wearing a dark-brown domino, the hood 
drawn down closely above the mask and gathered in at the 
neck, was ever at his heels. He never dreamt that he too 
was playing a part in the tragedy.' 


76 


THE T^IN HUSSARS. 


CHAPTER XV. 

But what had become of the beautiful woman whom 
Larry’s double had been talking with, and with whom he 
seemed to have such a perfect understanding? Larry had 
kept an eye out for her, as he felt that she was one of the 
principal actors and that sooner or later she must appear 
on the scene again. He began to fear she had gone home 
and that he would be left to simply guess the dhiouement, 
but, suddenly, he saw her waltz by, hanging gracefully on 
the arm of her cavalier, and as she floated swiftly by 
the hussar she gave him a quick signal with her fail, which 
was evidently seen, not only by the one for whom it was 
intended but by the little black domino. 

As soon as he perceived this signal the blonde hussar 
turned and strolled across the hall to the dressing-room, 
followed by the black domino and Larry. The domino 
darted into the ladies’ dressing-room, and quickly ap- 
peared in the hall between the two with her cloak on and 
her veil over her face in place of her mask. Hurrying in- 
to the men’s dressing-room, Larry looked around for his 
double in hopes of seeing his face, but though he was there 
he missed his object, for the man already had a big ulster 
on over his uniform, and a soft felt hat pulled down to 
meet the collar of his coat, thus comj)letely hiding his face. 


THE TWIK HUSSAKS. 


77 


Larry thought it strange that the man had not noticed 
him and the strange resemblance, but concluded it was be- 
cause his mind was so engrossed with the little affair he 
had on hand. 

Wishing to see the thing through, or at least as far as 
possible, he threw on his coat, and followed the masker 
into the hall- way. It was not long before he was joined 
by a closely draped figure, and together they went down 
the broad stairway, followed always by the black domino 
and by Larry at a respectful distance. The hussar gave a 
number to the policeman in attendance, and a carriage 
soon drove up to the door, into which he handed his com- 
panion, and sprung in after her. The door had no sooner 
banged to than Larry, whose attention was now turned to 
the black domino, saw her spring to a cab which was near 
at hand, and after giving a direction to the driver, the 
carriage sped rapidly after the one in which the hussar and 
his companion had left. 

“ There, thought Larry, as he turned back into the 
hall, “is one of the incidents of life which are constantly 
occurring but which seldom appear quite so plainly to 
the public eye. The end is easily foreseen, and the 
result is inevitable. !So much for the weakness and de- 
pravity of human nature! AYhat is amusement for one 
woman is purgatory for the other. 

He ventured into the ball again, but somehow the 


78 


THE TWIN HUSSAHS. 


“salt had lost its savor. The scene did not appear as 
brilliant as before. There was a false note somewhere in 
the ga3'ety. There was the ring of untrue metal in the 
hilarity; Larry could detect an ever-present discord run- 
ning as an accompaniment to the melodious strains of the 
orchestra. The scene which he had witnessed would not 
be banished from his mind. Those sad' eyes behind the 
black mask haunted him, and somehow reminded him of 
a dear little woman he had left uncomplaining, but dis- 
consolate, at home. 

The ball had now reached its height, and the maskers 
were dancing as though their lives depended on it, and as 
though his Satanic majesty was in their heels. You would 
have thought the floor was a heated gridiron from the 
difficulty some of the fair dancers had in keeping their 
feet on it, and the one who could spend the greatest 
amount of time in the air received the most applause. 
The fun was growing hot and furious, the champagne was 
doing its work, and Larry, after a last glance at the mot- 
ley crowd, turned toward the exit, pausing to exchange a 
few words with a flower-girl by the door and buy a bunch 
of violets. As he did so, the brown domino brushed past 
him, and the hard, set eyes glared at the not over-innocent 
face of the flower vender. 

After putting the violets in bis button-hole he walked 
slowly down the grand stairway, and the flower-girl, either 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


79 


thinking that there would be no more sale, or because she 
had exhausted her stock, closed her basket and went in 
the same direction. 

The stars were gleaming brightly, and after the heat 
and noise of the ball-room, the clear, crisp air of the win- 
ter night was delicious. Refusing the offers of the cab- 
men, he buttoned his coat to his throat, so as to keep his 
sword from swinging, and turned toward his hotel, a cigar 
between his teeth and a moral in his mind. 

“ This will do for once in awhile, he thought. “ It acts 
as a kind of safety- valye to a man's animal spirits; but, 
after all, the quiet, busy, uneventful life I had at home, 
with its every-day incidents, its commonplaceness, its mo- 
notony, if you will, is the happiest. I wonder what the 
little woman is doing to-night? Probably fast asleep, 
with the moonlight peeping in at her window under the 
^curtain. She would be shocked if she knew what 1 had 
been doing, but she need have no fear. I've gone the 
length of my rope. There's a solid wall around me in 
every direction made up of stones of self-respect laid in 
the mortar of my love for her, against which I run when 
circumstances press me too far, and the rebound carries 
me back to my better self . " 

The streets were empty and silent. Once in awhile he 
passed a policeman slowly walking his beat, with his hands 
behind his back, or a cab sped by, carrying its tired load 


80 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


of gay revelers. A flash of its lamps, a rattle over the 
paving-stones, and they were gone in the distance. He 
looked round curiously at the silent houses and vacant 
street. No one in sight but a woman^s figure walking 
slowly at some distance behind him. 

“ Some poor waif,'’^ he thought. “ Some outcast from 
the maelstrom of life.^^ 

Reaching the hotel, he passed in at the ladies’ en- 
trance, and before the door was closed a woman hur- 
ried in and jireceded him up the stairs. He followed 
leisurely, and when he passed the door of the ladies’ parlor, 
the same woman, closely veiled, was sitting by the door, 
apparently waiting for some one or something. 

“ Probably has sent for her key,” he thought, and 
passed on to his room. 

Had he looked around, he would have seen the woman 
spring from her seat the moment he had passed and fol- 
low him with the tread and noiselessness of a cat. It 
took many turns and twists to reach his room, and at 
every corner a head was cautiously thrust out- after him, 
and then, as he turned the next angle, the figure hurried 
on. 

At last he found his number, and, turning the lock, 
he entered. The door had hardly closed when the veiled 
figure reached his door, looked at the number, and, after 
listening a moment, shook her clinched hand at the room 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


• 81 

and returned toward the parlor, where she rang for , a bo}^ 
and procured a room. 

Larry was not long in throwing off his uniform. As 
he unbuckled his svVord he drew it from its scabbard, won- 
dering whether it was a bona-fide one or only a theatrical 
make-believe. It was a real enough one, however, with a 
keen, sharj) edge, and tempered like a Damascus blade. 

“ All ugly weapon,'^ laughed Larry. “ Idl put it by 
the head of my bed to scare away ghosts;"' and without 
putting it in the scabbard, he stood it by the head of 
the bed. 

After placing his watch, purse, and other valuables 
under his pillow, as was his usual custom, and opening the 
window and transom over the door a crack, in order . to 
have plenty of air, he turned out the gas and jumped into 
bed. 


82 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

After the excitement of the past few days he felt very 
tired^ and his head had hardly touched the pillow when he 
sunk into a heavy, dreamless sleep. It seemed to him he 
had not been asleep ten minutes, when he sprung up in 
bed, startled by some unusual noise. He had a feeling 
that he was not alone in the room, and he could hear a 
stealthy movement somewhere. He peered fiercely into 
the gloom which filled the chamber, but could see noth- 
ing. All sorts of ideas ran through his head, and instinct- 
ively his mind sought for some instrument of protection. 
The sword flashed into his mind, and he stealthily reached 
out and grasped it by the hilt. With this in hand he felt 
a little safer, and he was about to speak out, and bring 
the matter to a focus when, happening to look toward the 
door, over the top of which a very dim light streamed 
from the night-lights in the hall, he started with nervous- 
ness, and a chill ran down his back, for there, right over 
the edge of the transom, was a human hand clinging to 
the wood-work, either in the act of climbing up or else 
just letting the owner quietly down. 

We have already seen that Larry was the creature of 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


83 


impulse, and on seeing this hand there was but one idea in 
his head, and that was that the owner of that hand had 
either robbed him or was about to. His mind was made 
up in a moment, and springing from his bed as noiselessly 
as possible, he crept to the door, grasping his sword firmly 
as he went. The hand was still there. Perhaps the thief 
was alarmed, and was waiting for the noise to subside, but 
at any rate there ib was. Taking good aim, Larry 
^brought the keen, sharp edge down with all his strength 
across the wrist. 

An agonized moan and a fall on the other side of the 
door, and at his feet lay a white hand, the fingers clutched 
spasmodically as the red blood ran from the arteries. 

Though this was just what Larry had intended to do, 
yet, when he saw this ghastly hand lying there so life-like 
and human, expressing agony in its clutching, he was hor- 
rified. Better have been robbed, he thought. For a mo- 
ment he felt faint and sick, and leaned against the wall, 
but recovered himself by an effort, and turning the key, 
he threw open the door, and sprung out into the hall, 
ready to grapple with the burglar, expecting .to find 
him stretched upon the fioor; but the hall was empty; no 
one was visible. The handless burglar had made his 
escape, leaving an overturned chair to indicate his means 
of reaching the transom. Larry hurried down the hall 
and looked around the next angle, but all was quiet. 


84 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


At first he thought of making an alarm, but concluded 
lie would get on his clothes and see if he had met with any 
loss. He knew that by this time the burglar must have 
made his escape from the hotel. 

Hurrying back to the room, he entered fearfully, and 
closing the door, struck a match and lit the gas. His 
eyes first sought the floor next the door. He almost hoped 
lie might have been the victim of an hallucination, a fev- 
ered dream, a nightmare. But no; there, where it had 
fallen, with the Angers drawn ujd as if in agony, was the 
white hand with the blood slowly oozing from the severed 
arteries in the wrist. A shiver of horror passed down his 
e[)ine. He approached it with aversion, surgeon as he 
was, and after staring at it for a moment, he mastered his 
feelings and picked up the ghastly trophy of his prowess 
and swordsmanship. Holding it gingerly between his fin- 
gers, he approached the gas, and when the light fell full 
upon it he started in amazement. 

Instead' of the rough, stubbed hand of a burglar, he 
held between his fingers the small, delicate hand of a 
woman.^ The fingers were long and shapely, and the wrist 
slender and round. Upon the third finger was a hand- 
some sapphire and a wedding-ring. 

Larry stared at the ghastly sight with a horrified fasci- 
nation. What had he done? Whom had he crippled for 
life^ and perhaps murdered? What could a woman be 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


85 


doing, trying to climb over his transom at night? These 
and a thousand other questions rushed through his brain. 

“ Could it have been a female thief, the accom’plice of 
some masculine robber? Probably, he thought. 

He looked at the long, well-polished nails, the delicate 
blue veins in the palm, from which the blood was slowly 
oozing and dripping on the carpet, and visions of unpleas- 
ant consequences and unexpected entanglements filled his 
mind with foreboding. 

At last he laid the still warm hand down in the basin 
and proceeded to examine his belongings to see if he had 
lost anything. All was as he had left it on going to bed. 

Not a thing was missing. So the burglar, if burglar 
it was, had not made her entrance, but was trying to 
do so. 

Hurrying on his clothes, he debated what to do. Would 
it be best to alarm the house and have a search made? If 
the thief were still in the house she would need medical 
attendance, and [that would lead to her detection, and if 
she had escaped, as she could very easily have done by the 
ladies’ entrance, which could always be opened from the 
inside, it would be too late now to catch her, as she would 
undoubtedly have been taken away by her accomplice. He 
could see no use in making a disturbance, for then the 
matter would get into the papers and give him an unde- 
sirable notoriety. He concluded he would say nothing. 


86 




THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


But what to do with this horrid reminder of . his midnight 
escapade? 

He thought of various expedients, but none seemed 
practicable. At last his surgical experience came to his 
assistance. He remembered several cases in his practice 
where amputated members had been preserved in alcohol 
on account of some peculiarity of disease or malformation, 
and quickly decided that as soon as the shops were open 
in the morning he would purchase the necessary materials, 
and take the hand home with him. What an excellent 
story it would serve to illustrate! And he smiled as he im- 
agined the looks of horror his friends would cast upon it. 

In order to prevent further bleeding he took the hand 
and quickly seared the stump in the flame of the gas jet, 
and then put it back in the basin till morning. 

Then he put the sword back in its scabbard, and with 
a towel tried to remove the traces of the disgusting affair. 
The door was spattered with blood, and there was a deep 
cut in the wood where the blade had penetrated after cleav- 
ing through the wrist. On the floor was quite a little pool 
of blood where the hand had fallen. He washed the stains 
off the woodwork and wiped them off the floor as well as he 
could, but they left an ugly blotch on the carpet and a bad 
streak on the white jmint of the door. There is something 
peculiar about blood. It is almost impossible to remove 
its stain. Nearly every other kind of stain can be taken 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 87 

out, but blood leaves an ineradicable trace. It would seem 
as though it were so arranged by some higher power in order 
to prevent its being wantonly shed, and to furnish a 
never-failing finger-post pointing to the perpetrator of the 
crime. 

Slowly the hours dragged by, and they were very un- 
pleasant liours to Larry, you may be sure. All sorts of 
fears and suspicious rushed through his aching head, and 
when the first dim light of dawn peeped under the curtain 
he shrank from it as from the prying eye of a detective. 
But what had he done? Nothing, surely, but defend him- 
self and his property from a thief and murderess, perhaps. 

Impatiently he walked the floor until his watch told 
him the apothecary shops would be open, and then, locking 
his door behind him, he hurried out. The overturned 
chair in the hall had been carried away by some chamber- 
maid, who no doubt wondered how it came thej-^^ 

Entering the first druggist^s he camo co, he procured a 
bell-mouthed botilc wuicli would hold about a quart, and 
had it filled with alcohol. 

Returning to his room he took the unwelcome hand, 
dropped it into the bottle, and pressed the cork in as 
tightly as possible, and then, after a last look at the ghast- 
ly hand with its glistening rings and clinched fingers reach- 
ing up out of the colorless fluid, like the fatal hand which 
came up out of the lake and grasped Arthur’s sword and 


88 


THE TWIH ilUSSARS. 

drew him down to death, he stowed the flask at the bottom 
of his trunk and covered it up with clothes. After this 
was done he felt a little better, a trifle relieved, and wash- 
ing his hands, went down to breakfast. 

When he had given his order, and while he was waiting 
for it to be served, he stepped out to the news-stand, and 
bought a morning paper with the idea of reading an ac- 
count of the ball of the preceding evening. 

The first thing that struck his eye as he unfolded tlie 
damp sheet was a great staring headline: 

TEREIBLE MURDER! 

A Woman Found Butchered in Cold Blood on 
Twenty-Third Street. 

Her Right Hand cut off at the Wrist and Carried Aic ay : 
hy the Murderer, 

No Trace of the Murderer, and as yet the Wo7nan Uni- 
dentified. d 

Larry started as though he had been shot, and a cold I 

sweat covered his forehead. His heart sank like lead. ' 

Then he was a murderer! He, Larry Reynolds, had 

taken the life of a human being, and a woman at tliat! 

He could not realize it. A mist swam before his eyes and 
the room whirled around him. 

What would the world say? What would his wife say, I 
and what would the upshot of the matter be? Did it mean | 


V A; 


THE TWIN nrSSAIlS. 


89 


hanging, or state-prison for life, or a long term of years 
and lasting shame and disgrace? 

By a great effort he pulled himself together and tried 
to look the situatioiiin the face. His first inclination was 
to go to the nearest police station, confess the whole thing, 
and give himself up; for no matter what his provocation 
had been, no matter if the woman had been trying to enter 
his room, his hand had dealt the blow, his rash act had 
caused her to bleed to death, and there must be an ex- 
planation, an accounting, and perhaps a punishment. It 
depended on what view the jury took of it. Would they 
.^decide that he had been justified or not? 

As I have said, his first inclination was to go and give 
himself up, but then the fear of the disgrace caused him 
to look for some other way out of the difficulty, some 
means of escape. 

His breakfast came, but he could not eat it, and seizing 
the paper he hurried to his room, where he read with an- 
guish the particulars so far as they were known. 

They were rather meager. The paper stated that a 
policeman had found the body on the sidewalk where she 
had fallen, probably, when struck by the murderer. Slie 
was described as of ^medium height, dark eyes and hair, 
olive complexion, and very beautiful. She was well but 
not richly dressed, and had evidently been to the Arioii 
Ball, as she wore a brown domino under her cloak and 


90 


THE TWIN HUSSAKS. 


had a mask in her pocket. What the object of the mur- 
derer could have been in cutting off the woman’s hand 
was hard to conjecture. It might have been to get valua- 
ble diamonds on the fingers, but the w^oman did not have 
the appearance of one who would be possessed of such 
jewels, and even if she had been, a finger or two cut off would 
have answered as well as the whole hand. The police in- 
ferred that the murderer must have struck her with a sand 
bag and stunned her first, and then cut off her hand, and 
it was their opinion that she died from the loss of blood 
rather than from the blow, as her skull was not fractured. 

She had evidently come to her senses and tried to 
stanch the flow from the arteries, for a handkerchief was 
tied tightly around the arm just above the wrist in the 
manner of a tourniquet, and a steel hair ornament twisted 
through the knot showed some knowledge of surgery. 

One item particularly interested Larry, and that was 
that two of the best detectives in hlew York had the case 
in hand. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


91 


CHAPTER XVll. 

After an hour of feverish thought he made up his 
mind to try and escape the responsibility, but if he were 
discovered, to face the music and confess. He felt that 
it would be better and more manly to go and give himself 
up at once, but his courage failed him. He also thought 
of going to Ross for advice, and he afterward regretted that 
he had not done so, but he could not bear to face his chum 
with such a story. 

So he began to make his preparations for departure. 
His clothes were all packed, and all he had to do was to 
return the costume which he had worn the night before to 
the costumer, and pay his bill. 

He made a package of the uniform, putting in the 
sword with a shiver, and carried it tcT the costumer, to 
whom he delivered it with a sense of relief to have the 
hateful and fateful things out of his possession. ' Then he 
returned to his hotel, paid his bill, summoned a carriage, 
and after writing a note to Ross to inform him of his be- 
ing called home on business, and despatching it by mes- 
senger, he sprang into a coupe. Upon reaching the 
Grand Central Depot he purchased his ticket, got his 


93 


THE TWIN HrSSAES. 


trunk checked, and sunk back into his seat in the Pull- 
man with a sigh of relief. * How glad he would be to see 
the last of New York! How different' were his feelings on 
leaving from what they had been on arriving! He had 
come with a light, jubilant, boy dike gayety, and he was 
leaving with a heart as heavy as lead, and the blood of a 
woman on his conscience. 

There were yet five minutes before it was time for the 
train to leave, and Larry was looking impatiently at his 
watch, when a thick-set man with a heavy beard hurriedly 
entered the car, and, after looking with a keen eye over all 
the occupants, stepped quickly up to him, and bending 
down, whispered: 

“ Is this Mr. Larry Reynolds?’^ 

Larry^s face blanched as he answered: 

“ Yes, what do you want?'^ 

“ I am Detective White of the Metropolitan Police. 
You are suspected of being implicated in the murder on 
Twenty-third Street, last ‘night. You had better come 
quietly with me to headquarters, and then, if you can clear 
yourself, you can, of course, go free.^^ 

Larry summoned up all his courage, and taking his 
satchel, went out of the car with the detective. On the 
platform was another officer in citizen’s clothes, and, to^ 
gether, they walked to a closed carriage which was waiting 
outside. Not a word was spoken as they drove to head- 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


93 


quarters, and the officers very politely ushered him into 
the presence of the chief. 

This officer was a shrewd but kindly looking man, and 
turning to the prisoner, he said; 

“You have been arrested by my men on suspicion of 
being implicated in the murder which occurred on 
Twenty- third Street, last night. If you can give a satis- 
factory explanation or prove an alibi you v/ill be released, 
but if not, I shall have to hold you for further examina- 
tion. He ceased speaking, and looked intently at the 
prisoner, awaiting his reply. He seemed surprised and 
pained to see a man of such fine appearance and with so 
honest and open a face charged with such a crime. 

Now was the crucial moment. Larry^s mouth was 
dry, and his lips refused their office. He was about to 
convict himself by his own admission and brand himself 
with disgrace. Then who could tell whether the jury 
would believe his story as to the details of the matter. He 
had no j)roof, only his simple and unaided word. 

At last, by a mighty effort, he raised his ey^s and said; 

“ I am the man. You need look no further. 

“ Excuse me,^’ interrupted the chief. “ I must warn 
you that what you say here will be used against you at the 
trial. You are not obliged to commit yourself. 

“lam aware of that,'" answered Larry, “ but I wish 
to make a clean breast of it, I have nothing to conceal,'^ 


94 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


“ Then you may relate the details.-” 

And in a low but distinct tone Larry told the strange 
and horrible story of the past night. ‘As he proceeded, he 
kept his eye on the chief to see how it was received, and 
his heart sank when he perceived that, kindly and manly 
as he was, he did not believe. It was evident the chief 
thought that Larry had invented this tale as an explana- 
tion for a pure case of murder. So sure was he that he 
was doubted that his voice became almost inaudible, and 
at last he sank on a seat, too weak to stand up under the 
strain. 

He had his preliminary examination, and was held for 
trial; was searched, and sent to the Tombs. His trunk- 
check, found in his pocket, was taken by the officers. At 
his request word was sent to Ross Valentine, and he had 
hardly been placed in his cell ere his friend was an- 
nounced. 

He hurried forward with indignation in his eye. 

“ What does this mean, Larry, old man? How in the 
world did you get here? There must be some mistake, 
and Ifil have you out in no time.” 

Larry silently wrung his hand. It did seem so good to 
see a friend and hear a friendly, cheery voice. 

“No, Ross, there’s no mistake. It’s only too real and 
true. You’ve read the morning papers, of course, and 
seen the account of the murder. I killed the woman, but 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


95 


— hold on! — hold on!"^ — seeing Ross shrink back in horror 
— “ donH go too far. Before you condemn me hear the 
whole story. 

Ross sat down without a word, and waited with staring 
eyes for the explanation. Once more Larry went over it, 
though the details had become loathsome to him. 

When he had finished he looked up at Ross who had 
not said a word during the whole time. He found his eyes 
intently fixed on his face as though they would read his 
soul. 

“ Larry, upon your honor, are these the exact facts? 
Have you hidden nothing?’^ 

Ross, I give you my word of honor, that they are the 
exact truth, with nothing held back."'^ 

“ 1 believe you! 1 believe you! and I should have done 
the same thing under the same circumstances; any man 
would. But of course it is deucedly unfortunate the 
woman died, as it leaves you in a bad place. Your story 
is hard to prove. There were no witnesses, you see.^^ 

“ No,^'’ answered Larry, in a disconsolate tone. “ I saw 

. n' 

that from the first. I shall probably be convicted and 
have to suffer the consequences. But, Ross, my wife! 
Just think of it! She will pick up the evening paper, and 
there, in great black letters, read her husband’s disgrace, 
the ruin of her future. Oh! it is too much! Poor little 
woman!” 


06 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


“ Come, come, old man! Pull yourself together! It 
isn^t so dark as it looks. Your wife will never believe you 
guilty.” 

Larry sat in deep thought for a moment or two, and 
then, turning to his friend, said: 

“ Boss, I want you to go to her on the next train, and 
explain it to her.” 

Boss’s face flushed a deep red. He hesitated. 

“ I can’t do that, Larry. I will write to her, or, better 
still, you write her the full truth about the matter. ” 

“No, you must go to her. You must do this for me. 
You can’t refuse it. Go to her and comfort her.” 

Boss looked down, and his hands clasped and un- 
clasped nervously. Finally, he looked up and said 
quietly: 

“ I’ll go on the next train, and return at once to look 
after your case. Now, just keep up your courage. I’ll 
bring you out all right. It’s always darkest just before 
the dawn. ” 




THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


97 


CHAPTER XVIIL 

The two days that Ross was gone seemed interminable 
to Larry in his miserable cell. He could not sleep, and 
the hours dragged slowly by like one long nightmare. 
Every time he heard a step in the corridor he thought it 
must be some one with a letter or telegram from his wife; 
but none came. Why this silence? It was unlike her. 
She should have been the first to fly to his assistance. 

At last the time which Larry knew was requisite for 
Ross’s trip to New Hampshire expired, and he began to 
watch and listen for his return. His patience was at last re- 
warded, and Ross’s well-known step was heard approach- 
ing, but it was not so quick and sprightly as usual. 
There was a drag, an unwillingness, a hesitation in it. 
Larry had been listening so long that sounds had the elo- 
quence of words to him. 

At last the steps reached the cell door, and Ross was 
admitted by the keeper, who remained outside. One 
glance at his chum’s face told Larry that some additional 
trouble was in store for him, some further misery. There 
M^as an expression of gloomy anxiety, a troubled forebod- 
ing, and he looked silently at Larry without saying a 
word. 


4 


98 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


“ What is it. Boss? Speak out^ this suspense is killing 
me. Let me know the worst. 

“ Has your wife been here?^^ 

“ Been here?— no! Of course she hasn^t. What do 
you mean?^^ 

“ She is not at home. No one there knows where she 

is.^^ 

Larry stared at his friend in stupid amazement, and 
could not utter a word. 

“ She left home,^^ continued Ross, “ the same day you 
did, and took the train south, the station-agent told me. 

“ What does it mean, Ross?^^ gasped Larry. “ Where 
can she have gone? Perhaps she has gone to visit her 
mother ?^^ 

“ No,^’ answered Ross. “ 1 wired her mother, and 
they replied that she was not there. 

For some moments neither spoke a word. Larry 
seemed completely crushed by this unexpected blow. 
There seemed no end to his troubles. And this was so 
strange, so piysterious, so unexpected, so unlike his wife. 
At last, he looked up and said : 

“ Ross, you must find her for me. 1 canT help think- 
ing that her disappearance is in some way connected with 
my going away. I feel responsible for it.^^ 

“ But, Larry, 1 must devote my time to preparing 
your case, to getting you out of this miserable mess.^^ 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


99 


“ Oh, never mind me. Find my wife. See that she 
is safe and well and I"ll take care of myself. Oh, what a 
fool Vyb been!’^ groaned poor Larry. “ How could I 
ever leave her and get into such a vile scrape? If I were 
only free to go in search of her!’^ 

“ Your time’s up, sir!” said the turnkey, who had 
been patiently waiting at the cell door. 

“ Keep up your courage, Larry,” said Ross. “ I 
must go now, but you know me well enough to believe I 
will leave no stone unturned to solve this mystery and get 
you out of this unfortunate scrape. ” 

“ 1 know it, Ross, I know it, but I am completely un- 
manned and broken by what has happened. Remem- 
ber, that your first duty is to my wife. Poor little wom- 
an! Where can she be?” 

An hour later Ross was closeted with two of the 
shrewdest detectives in New York. To one he detailed 
the duty of finding Larry’s wife, and to the other the task 
of gathering evidence which would .prove Larry’s story of 
the way in which the woman met her death. 

The time for preparation of the case was limited, as 
the accident, or murder, had happened but a week before 
the regular session of the court was to take place at which 
he would be tried. The murder had occasioned great ex- 
citement on account of the place in which it had occurred, 
the beauty of the victim, and the peculiar and mysterious 


100 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


manner of her death. The standing of the self-confessed 
murderer, too, added not a little to the interest the public 
felt in the case. 

Ross threw himself into the case heart and soul. Sleep 
and he were strangers; night and day he toiled at it. He 
had daily, yes, almost hourly, reports from his detectives; 
but their success was very meager. 

He had been able to track Larry ^s wife to Boston, but 
from there all trace of her disappeared, and she was as 
completely lost as though she had been swallowed by the 
Atlantic Ocean. His non-success in this direction was a 
great grief to Ross, as well as to his client. It added an 
element of mystery to the already tangled skein of mys- 
terious circumstances, and prevented his giving his entire 
attention to the work of exonerating his friend as he would 
like to have done. Larry was completely broken and dis- 
couraged. He seemed to have lost all interest in his own 
acquittal, and was of no use to Ross in his endeavors. 

The day of the trial came. The court-room was filled 
to suffocation. The judge was in his place, the jury in 
their chairs, the attorneys ready with their books and 
papers. Ross was among them, an anxious and care-worn 
expression upon his face. He looked discouraged. His 
efforts had been nearly fruitless. He had neither succeed- 
ed in finding the missing wife nor gathered evidence 
enough to corroborate Larry’s story. All he had to rely 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


101 


on, practically, was his client^s version of the affair, and 
naturally that would not count for much. 

Eoss kept his eye on the door expectantly, as did most 
of those present; and just as the audience were getting 
impatient the sheriff entered with the prisoner. A mur- 
mur of surprise swept over the crowd when they caught 
sight of the accused. Could this fair-haired, open-browed 
man with the honest, debonair face be a murderer? It hard- 
ly seemed possible, and the sympathies of the people, which 
before had been enlisted against him, turned in his favor. 

Larry looked listlessly around the room as he entered, 
a blush of shame mantling his cheek as he realized his 
position. He took his seat in the dock, and exchanged a 
few words with Boss, who approached him, and then after 
a plea of not guilty to the charge of murder the prosecut- 
ing attorney opened the case for the State, which was 
followed by the witnesses for the prosecution^ 

The clerk of the hotel testified to Larry’s engaging the 
room; the costumer produced the uniform which the pris- 
oner had hired, and showed the sword with the blood-stain 
still on it; the doorkeeper at the hotel testified that Larry 
had come in at about two, with a long ulster on, and that 
about the same time a strange woman had entered and 
hurried by him upstairs, and that a few hours after the 
same woman had gone out again, evidently in great haste. 

The chamber-maid testified to the blood-stains on the 


103 


THE TWm HUSSARS. 


floor in Larry’s room, and upon the towels, and also to the 
cut or dent in the door casing. 

A policeman testified to finding the murdered woman 
upon the sidewalk on Twenty-third Street, and a physician 
who was summoned gave his opinion that, although it was 
improbable that with the tourniquet round the arm the 
woman could have bled to death, still it was possible that the 
shock and loss of blood together might have caused her 
death. No other wounds except a contusion on the head 
and a slight blue mark on the neck, which might have 
been occasioned by her fall, were discovered. 

But the most ghastly and damning piece of evidence 
was the severed hand, which the detectives found in the 
bottle at the bottom of Larry’s trunk, which, of course, 
they had had returned and opened. It could hardly be ex- 
plained away, and Larry’s statement that he kept it and 
put it in the bottle because he did not know what else to 
do with it, and because it was a surgical curiosity, did not 
satisfy the minds of the jury'. They could not understand 
the workings of a surgeon’s mind, nor the peculiar inter- 
est such things have for him. 

As the case proceeded, and witness after witness was 
examined, things began to look blacker, and the outlook 
was dark indeed. There seemed to be a well-defined case 
of deliberately planned murder made • out against his 
client, and Ross’s heart was very low. 


THE TWIK HUSSAES. 


103 


Still he struggled on^ and cross-examined the Statens 
witnesses with the greatest care and skill, hoping to bring 
out some point favorable to his friend, or get hold of some 
thread which would lead to an untangling of the snarled 
and complicated skein. 

The testimony he had to offer was meager and of little 
account. His principal witness was Larry himself, and he 
told his story in such a listless, careless, dogged manner 
that it prejudiced the mind of every hearer against him. 
He did not weaken on cross-examination, but he was, to 
say the least, a poor witness. He seemed to have made 
up his mind that his story would not be believed, and did 
not seem to care whether it was or not. When he had 
been hauled over the coals by the opposing counsel, he sat 
down, rested his head on his hand, and seemed to take no 
further interest in the case. 

Boss rose to close, pale but determined. His case rested 
almost entirely on Larry’s own story, which was unsup- 
ported by any direct evidence, and his point was to let the 
jury see how impossible it would be for a man like Larry 
to commit deliberate murder. 

He began by going back to his friend’s childhood, his 
careful, prayerful bringing up in the New England home. 
He ^described him as a youth, and a young man as he 
had known him at college; he told of the long years they 
had lived together, of the deep friendship which had 


104 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


always existed between them; he painted him as he had 
first seen him — a curly-haired, light-hearted boy of seven- 
teen; he dwelt on his early manhood, his standing, his 
honors, the love which was felt for him by his patients 
and his townsmen; he spoke with a tremor in his voice of 
his wife and the lovely home; and then he asked them if 
a man reared in this way, with these surroundings, these 
loves, these ambitions, these successes, coming from the 
fresh, sweet blood-cleansing air of the country could de- 
liberately do this vile and awful deed. Eoss spoke with 
the fervor of conviction, with the voice of love and friend- 
ship, with the memory of many a happy day and many a 
brotherly kindness sweeping through his mind. He 
pleaded as for a son, and the tears dropped from Larry^s 
eyes upon the rail, where so many - felons’ hands had 
rested. 

The State’s Attorney made his closing argument. He 
was an elderly man who had grown gray in criminal trials, 
and had all the tricks of the orator at his command, and 
when he had finished it was perfectly clear that Larry was 
about the deepest-dyed villain that ever stood in the dock, 
and people eyed him with horror and loathing. The pris- 
oner watched the face of the lawyer as he spoke, with a 
kind of fascination. He did not seem to realize that all 
this eloquence was aimed at him; his mind was dazed, 
deadened to his danger and situation; and he found him- 


THE TWIK HUSSAES. 


105 


self nodding approval at the well-rounded 'periods, the 
quick-falling shower of crisp, cutting phrases. 

Boss had at last stirred the sympathies of the jurors, if 
he had not changed their opinions. The judge gave his 
charge to the jury, and they retired. After they had left 
a gloomy silence fell upon the court-room. The judge 
scanned some papers; the lawyers conversed in a low and 
subdued tone, and the audience confined itself to awesome 
whispers. The minutes seemed hours, and all eyes 
watched the hands of the tall clock as they dragged their 
weary way around the stolid dial. Larry still sat with his 
head bowed on his hands, and Boss watched him with a 
loving, pitying look in his eyes. 

At last the jury came filing back and took their seats. 

“ Have you agreed upon a verdict?^^ asked the judge, 
of the foreman. 

“We have. 

“ You may read it.^^ 

The foreman stood in his place, and while the jury 
bowed their eyes, as though fearful of their own work, and 
the audience listened in breathless silence, he read, in slow 
and distinct tones: 

“ We find the prisoner guilty of murder in the first 
degree, but on account of his youth, his previous good 
character, and other extenuating circumstances, we rec- 
ommend him for mercy. 


106 


THE TWIN HUSSAHS. 


Larry did not raise his head as the words were spoken, 
but a shiver ran through his body, and. the sheriff, who 
sat beside him, heard him murmur: 

“ Poor little woman 

A thrill of horror ran through the crowd, and Boss’s 
head sunk on his breast. He had made the best fight he 
could and had lost. There was no escape. There was 
nothing on which he could rely for a new trial. The evi- 
dence was clear and convincing, and while he knew 
Larry’s story to be true, there was ho way of proving 
it. 

“ Let the prisoner stand and receive his sentence,” 
said the judge, after a few moments’ thought. 

Larry stood up, his head thrown back, his clear eye 
fixed upon the judge— a magnificent specimen of manhood 
— ready to meet his fate, whatever it was, and knowing 
himself innocent of any intentional crime. 

“ Larry Keynolds, you are found guilty of murder in 
the first degree, and the pehalty of the law is death; but 
on account of certain mitigating oircumstances and the 
recommendation of the jury, 1 sentence you to twenty-five 
years in State’s — ” 

Just here a commotion near the door drowned the 
judge’s voice, and he looked up in an irritated manner to 
see what the cause of it was. A man had just entered, 
and was pushing his way hastily through the crowd toward 


THE TWIN" HrSSAKS. 


107 


the bar of the court. Seeing the judge about to go on, 
the man raised his hand, and said : 

“ Your honor, 1 have some important testimony to 
offer in this case. Is it too late to introduce it? It will 
completely change the whole aspect of the matter. 

“ Who are you, sir?^^ 

“lam Inspector Brown, of the Metropolitan Detective 
Force, your honor. 

“Yes, yes, I recognize you now. Well, Mr. Brown, 
your evidence must be very important for you to inter- 
rupt at this stage of the trial. 

“It is so important that if the case is not reopened 
now I am satisfied that your honor would grant the pris- 
oner a new trial when you have heard it.^^ 

“ Well, this is rather an unusual procedure, but I will 
remand the case to the jury and you may make your state- 
ment, as I know you to be a man not likely to go this far 
without good reasons. 

“ Your honor, and gentlemen of the jury, the story is 
briefly this. At the request of Mr. Valentine, the counsel 
for the defense, I was put on this case with instructions to 
follow it up sharp. 

“ My first step was to discover the identity of the mur- 
dered woman. This was not a very difficult matter. She 
proved to be a Mrs. Caxton, the wife of a gambler of that 
name. She was formerly a Miss Romero and is of Italian 


108 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


descent. It seemed strange to me this husband had not 
come forward to claim the body, or appeared in the case at 
all, and 1 determined to find him. For a longtime I was un- 
successful and thought he had left the city, but at last, by 
frequenting the gambling-houses, 1 found my man, of 
whom I had a very good description. 

“ The first time 1 laid my eyes on him I was struck 
with one thing, and that was his remarkable resemblance 
to the prisoner. It was astonishing. You could hardly 
tell them apart; same size, figure and build; same hair, 
eyes and features; same carriage and deportment. This 
similarity set me to thinking. 

“ I made his acquaintance, disguised,, of course, and in- 
duced him to play cards. 

“ I allowed him to win a little money, and got him to 
drinking. This loosened his tongue, and he let out several 
important bits of information; among others the fact that 
he was at the Arion Ball on the night of the murder, and 
that he wore the uniform of an officer of hussars. 

“ By a little skillful manipulating I got him to tell me 
that he met a charming woman there, and went with her 
to a noted restaurant for supper; but I could get nothing 
further from him. Something seemed to close his lips, 
and no arts of mine could get him to tell what he did after 
that. At all events, I thought, I must find who the wom- 
an was with whom he dined. Another bottle of wine did 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


109 


the business, and leaving him under the eye of one of my 
assistants, 1 left to interview the woman. 

“ I found her living in handsome apartments in a 
flat on K. Street. She was rather attractive and ele- 
gantly dressed, with a profusion of jewels. 1 had learned 
before calling on her that her reputation was a trifle shady, 
and that she had no husband nor visible means of support. 

“ 1 knew by the expression of her face when 1 an- 
nounced that I had come to make some inquiries as to her 
companion of the night of the Arion Ball that she was 
alarmed, and felt that, by working her right, 1 could get 
some valuable information. I am a pretty fair judge of 
faces, and I knew by hers that she would scare easily, so I 
‘jumped on her,^ all at once, as it were, and asked her 
point-blank to tell me all she knew about the murder. 

“ She turned as white as a sheet, and began to deny 
any knowledge of it, but I knew I was on the right scent 
then, and gave her to understand that it would be better 
for her to make a clean breast of it. In fact, I told her if 
she would tell me the whole truth I would assist in shield- 
ing her from arrest as an accomplice. After some hesita- 
tion, she told me she was at the ball by appointment with 
Caxton, whom she had known for some months, and who 
had been in the habit of calling upon her. In some way, 
Mrs. Caxton, who, as I have said, was of Italian descent, 
discovered the liaison and, naturally, became furiously jeal- 


110 


THE TWIH HUSSARS. 


ous. She had a suspicion that Caxton was going to this 
ball, probably to meet this woman, and, unknown to her 
husband, followed him there. 

“ After leaving the ball-room they drove to a restaurant 
and had supper and several bottles of wine, and Caxton be- 
came partially intoxicated. Between one and two they left 
the restaurant, and, no cab being in sight, started on foot 
for her apartments. As they were going through Twenty- 
third Street, they saw a woman approaching them at a 
rapid pace and moaning as though in pain. As they were 
passing her she looked up, and, as bad luck would have it, 
husband and wife were face to face. The woman gave one 
look at her husband, and then, drawing a knife from her 
bosom, sprang at his companion with the cry of a wounded 
tigress. Caxton, who by this time was very drunk, tried 
to separate them, and not succeeding, became furious, 
grasped his wife by the throat, and, after holding her for 
some moments until she sank back limp in his arms, threw 
her from him to the pavement, where she struck with a 
sickening thud. 

“ Caxton^s companion had escaped serious injury, only 
being scratched by the knife, and she hurried him away 
from the scene, fearing the arrival of the police. Neither 
of them knew nor cared much, apparently, whether the poor 
woman whom they had left on the cold pavement was dead 
or alive. He was too drunk to think, and she too callous. 


THE TWIK HUSSARS. 


Ill 


“ The next day, when they heard of the death of Mrs. 
Caxton, they felt and knew they were responsible there- 
for, and had every reason for keeping quiet. Caxton was 
for fleeing the country at once, but his companion advised 
against it, as it would attract attention and fasten the crime 
upon them.^' 

‘‘Your honor, ^interrupted the Statens Attorney, ris- 
ing, “ all this story may be true, but there is one impor- 
tant point which it does not explain. You will remember 
that the body was minus a hand and that said hand was 
found in the prisoner’s trunk. ” 

“ I think 1 can explain that satisfactorily,” said the de- 
tective. ‘it is my opinion that the prisoner at the bar 
has told the exact truth and I shall try to prove it. 1 have 
already spoken of the remarkable resemblance between the 
prisoner and this man Caxton. When I produce him in 
court, it will be evident to you. By sopie singular 
coincidence they hired their costumes for the masquerade 
of the same costumer, and by a sort of fatality selected 
the same costume, identical in every particular. 1 found 
this out by a visit to the costumer. He had a number of 
similar uniforms which had been used for some theatrical 
performance. So you will see that, when they appeared at 
the ball, masked, their best friend might have been de- 
ceived as to their identity. ” 

As the detective made this statement there was a stir 


112 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


at the rear of the court-room^ and a small woman, closely 
veiled, pressed up near the speaker. 

* “ My idea,^^ went on the detective, “ is, that the mur- 

dered woman on arriving at the ball at once sought for her 
^ husband, and recognized him, as she supposed, in the 
masked hussar, but that she hit upon the wrong hussar, 
mistaking the prisoner for her husband. 

“ When the prisoner left the ball she followed him, and 
seeing him enter the HoSman House and knowing his 
inconstancy, believed she had trapped him. We know 
that a woman entered the house just as he did, for the 
door-keeper has so testified. 

“ Well, she precedes him up the stairs, goes into the 
parlor and waits for him to go by, and then follows him 
until she^ ascertains the number of his room. She then 
secretes herself about the house somewhere, or takes a 
room till all is quiet, and then steals back to the room 
wliich she has noted, procures a chair and pulls herself up 
till she can look over the transom. In doing this she 
awakens Mr. Reynolds, who, half asleep and thinking he 
is about to be attacked by a burglar, springs from his bed, 
grasps the nearest weapon, which happens to be the sword 
belonging to his masquerade costume, and strikes at the 
hand over the transom to prevent further ingress, or in- 
tercept the escape of the supposed burglar, if he had al- 
ready been in. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


113 


“ Before he can open the door, the woman, who must 
have been a very plucky little thing, in spite of her lost 
hand and bleeding wrist, hurries down the corridor and 
out at the ladies’ entrance. 

“ She realizes that she has been severely wounded and 
ties her handkerchief around her arm above the wrist, 
twisting it tight with the steel pin which she wore in her 
hair so as to form a tourniquet. This stopped the flow of 
blood, and she turned towards her home, but had not gone 
far when she met her real husband with this woman, and 
the result has already been described to you. She was 
killed by her own husband, and not by the loss of her 
hand. The post-mortem examination showed that the 
woman had not probably lost enough blood to have caused 
her death. ” 

The sensation created in the court by these revelations 
was wonderful. Every head was craned forward to catch 
the words of the speaker, and even the judge appeared 
pleased and relieved. Koss was perfectly jubilant, and 
looked at Larry with a radiant face. But the man who 
was most interested seemed the least affected. During the 
relation of the detective he had recovered his mng f void, 
and was now gazing serenely around the court-room as 
though he had been a mere spectator. 

“ Your honor,” said the State’s Attorney, “ this man’s 
story is very plausible, and his theories well worked out. 


114 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


but what we want here is evidence and not any man^s 
opinions. 1 suppose he can produce witnesses to prove his 
statements. 

“I can, your honor/ ^ and he made a sign to an 
officer, who stepped to the door and reappeared with a 
tall, fair-haired man. 

As he advanced into the roona every one stared in 
astonishment, and turned from the new arrival to glance 
at the prisoner at the bar. Here was a piece of speaking 
evidence, though silent. If the man advancing and the 
prisoner at the bar had been dressed alike and shaken up 
in a hat, their best friends could not have told them apart. 
Even Larry himself was surprised into an exclamation, 
and the veiled woman who had before displayed such an 
interest in the proceedings laughed aloud. It seemed to 
amuse her. Why? 

“ Your honor, may I place this witness by the side of 
the prisoner?^’ 

“ You may.^^ 

The man was placed by Larry’s side, evidently for the 
effect of the thing, and then only was there a difference 
visible, and that was in their manner. Larry’s head was 
erect and proud, while honesty and innocence shone from 
his eyes, but his companion’s head was lowered, his e^e 
drooped, and when you could get a glimpse of it it was 
shifty and uneasy. 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


115 


As soon as the man Caxton had been placed by Larry’s 
side, the officer went out again, and returned with a wom- 
an. The whole thing was so dramatic, so theatrical, 
that the audience were at a perfect fever pitch, and the 
jury were all leaning forward in their chairs to see what 
was coming next. 

The moment Caxton’s eyes fell on this woman, 
he shrunk back, and a cold shiver ran through his 
frame. He recognized her and saw that his guilt was 
known. 

It is needless to describe the rest. The woman, who 
was Caxton ’s companion of the night of the ball, turned 
State’s evidence, and her story, with the chain of proof 
put together link by link by the detective, was convincing 
and overwhelming, and when, after a brief resume of the 
case by Boss, it was again given to the jury they came 
back in less than five minutes with a verdict exonerating 
Larry and implicating the Caxton man, who was taken to 
the Tombs to await his trial. 

The trial was at an end. The court adjourned; the 
people filed slowly out, glancing sympathetically at the 
man who had come so near suffering for a crime com- 
mitted by another; and Larry, now a free man, stepped 
out of the dock and grasped Boss’s hand which he wrung 
for some moments without saying a word. 

“ I owe it all to you, Boss,” he said at last. 


116 


THE TWIN HUSSAKS. 


“ To me! What did 1 do? You owe it all to Brown 
the detective/' 

“ But he was working for you and at your instigation, 
and if you had not had sense enough to hire this particular 
man the mystery never would have been unraveled. Ilis 
work was wonderful. But how did it happen you knew 
nothing about it?" 

“ Well, you see, he did not hit upon the trail till last 
night, and he has been following it up sharp ever since, 
and had no time nor opportunity to see me. So he just 
got his evidence and witnesses together, and hurried up to 
the court-room, in hopes of getting here before the evi- 
dence was all in; but he didn't, and so adopted the course 
which you witnessed. It was unique but successful." 

“ Now, Boss, if I only knew where my wife was 1 
should be the happiest of men. W^here can she be? If 
she could only know me innocent!" 

Hardly had these words left his lips when he saw two 
gloved hands stealing around his neck from behind, and a 
voice whispered in his ear; 

“ I do know, Larry! Can you forgive me for doubt- 
ing you?" 

Without a word Larry caught his wife in his arms, and 
in spite of the presence of the few ' remaining people, 
bowed his head on her shoulder and wept. 

Boss, hardly able to restrain his own emotion ‘at the 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


117 


happy outcome of what had looked a very serious and 
tragical matter, stepped aside, ostensibly to pick up his 
books and papers. 


118 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

That night Ross dined with Larry and his wife at 
their hotel, and after Larry had made a clean breast of all 
his movements since he left honie, he said to the little 
woman opposite: 

“ Now, Patience, 1 have told the truth, the whole 
truth and nothing but the truth, and 1 think you owe me 
an explanation. Where have you been? Why did you 
leave home, and what have you been doing 

“ Larry, I am almost ashamed to tell you. I really 
believe I have done more wrong than you have.^^ And she 
looked from Larry to Ross appealingly, as though fearing 
her story would be frowned upon. 

“ Well, I’m glad if there’s something for me to for- 
give, little woman,” said Larry. “ It will ‘ let me down ’ 
a trifle easier, you see. So, let’s have it!” 

“ You see,” began Patience, “ I was awfully jealous of 
you, though I didn’t say much about it, and when you 
proposed to go to New York and didn’t ask me to go too, I 
was sure there was a woman in the case and that you were 
deceiving, and as the doubt was torturing me I resolved to 
follow you and And out.” 


THE TWIN HUSSARS. 


119 


“Oh ho! that’s where the trouble was!” exclaimed 
Larry. 

“ Yes, and 1 left home on the next train, and went to 
the Fifth Avenue Hotel where I have been ever since, 
under an assumed name. I don’t know what made me 
think you would go to the Arion Ball, but 1 happened to 
see the advertisement in the paper, and the feeling came 
over me at once that you would be there, and 1 waited 
outside your hotel door in a carriage that night, and when 
I saw you come out I had my driver follow you. 1 pro- 
cured a domino and mask at the ball, and went on the 
floor, and it wasn’t long before 1 picked you out, or I 
thought I had. ” 

“1 see it all!” cried Ross. “ You picked out the 
other hussar.” 

“Yes, so it seems. And 1 followed him all the rest of 
the evening, and when he left the hall with that woman I 
was at their heels. When they went into the restaurant 
together I cared to see no more, and hurried back to my 
room more dead than alive, and I can tell you, Larry, that 
you came very near being a widower that night.” 

The tears sprang to her eyes, and Larry squeezed her 
hand under the table-cloth. 

“ The next day 1 picked up the paper, and the first 
thing I saw was the account of the murder, and your con- 
nection with it, and you can readily see that I believed it 


1^0 


THE TWIK H3USSAIIS. 


was true. 1 thought you would be tried, convicted and 
hung, so 1 resolved to await the trial, and if you were 
found guilty I intended to come forward and forgive and 
comfort you as well as 1 could under the circumstances.^^ 

Before either Larry or his wife could say anything 
more Boss raised his glass, and said: 

“ Life is like this glass of champagne, especially mar- 
ried life. The bubbles which hoat upon the top and 
which momentarily rise from the depths are the daily 
trials and troubles and doubts, but see how quickly 
they disappear. The soft amber liquid with its red, 
lambent lights is the real and beautiful part of life, 
holding its joys, its pleasures, its hopes, its ambitions, its 
loves. See how invitingly it dances and sparkles, how it 
jumps up the crystal sides of the glass as though it would 
make its way down your throat in spite of you. How 
kind and grateful to those who know its moods and handle 
it with care. My dear children, life is not all a dream, 
but to such as you it can be made to efiervesce with daily 
joys."^ 

As he finished his eyes fell upon the woman opposite, 
and she knew his secret. 


THE EHD. 


By FRANCES P. SULLIVAN. 


CONTENTS OP NO. 1. 


lAeridan'fl ulde. T. B. Read 3 

Barb»..'a Frietchie. J. G. Whittier. ... 4 
B.aru let’s boliloqny on Death. Shaks- 

peare 4 

The Ship of State. Lon^ellow 6 

War. E. B. Browning 6 

Cato on the Immci-tality of the Soul. 

Addison 6 

My Country. Anonymous 6 

'Curdinal Wolsey’s Farewell to Power. 

Shakspeare 4 

To My Mother. Forrester 6 

What makes a Hero. Henry Taylor.. 7 

America. Bryant 7 

The Felon. M. G. Lewis 7 

Ode to Fear. Collins 8 

Dorkins' Night. Anonymeus ^ g 

Warren's Address. J. Pierpont 0 

Return of the Dead. Proctor D 

To a Skull. Anonymous 0 

The Panper’s Death-Bed. Caroline B, 

Southey 10 

The GWove and the Lion. Leigh Hunt. 10 
Marco Bozzaris. 1 itz-Greene Halleck, 11 

The Last Man. Campbell 11 

Kearney at Seven Pines. E. C. Stead- 
man 12 

The Gambler’s Wife. Coates 13 

The Battle of Fontenoy. Thomas 

Davis 14 

Over the River. Nancy A. M. Priest. . 15 

Life. Henry King 15 

Bivouac of the Dead. Theodore 

O’Hara 15 

\7hen the Tide Goes Out. Anony- 
mous 16 

Ihe Drunkard’s Dream. 0. W. Deni- 
son 16 

tJobody’s Child. Philo H. Child 17 

JDno in Blue and One in Gray. Wm. 

Ward 17 

ItiTan was made to Mourn. Robert 

Bums 18 

The Collier’s Dying Child. Farmer. . 19 
Where Man Should Die. Anonymous 19 


Red Riding Hood. J. G. Whittier ... 20 
The Arab’s Farewell to his Steed. 

Mrs. Norton 20 

The Futility of Fame. H. K. White. . 21 
'^temebody’s Darling. War Lyrics of 
the South” 21 


Teaming. J. Brennan 4 ...«*,*t 23 

Roll-Call. N. P. Shephert 22 

When the Lamp is Shattered. Percy 

Bysshe Shelley 25 

Ring out Wild bells. Tennyson :3 

The Downfall of Poland. Campbell . 23 

Elegy Written in a Country Church- 

Yard. Gray <24 

The Weaver 25 

The Memory of the Dead. * Anony- 

moua 2 « 

'The Reconciliation. John Banlm 26 

The Bolls of Shandon. Father !^out. . 27 

Look Aloft. J. Lawrence 27 

Curfew must not Ring To-Night. 

Anonymous 28 

Persevere. J. Brougham 29 

The Baron’s Last Banquet. A. G. 

Greene 29 

The Inquiry. Charles Mackay 30 

The Relic f of Lucknow. Robt. Lowell. 31 

The Water-Mill. D. G. Mitchell 31 

Dying Californian 32 

Bingen on the Rhino. Mrs. Norton. . 33 

Beautiful Snow 34 

The Charge of the Light Brigade. 

Tennyson 35 

The Dying Soldier 35 

Jim Bludso. John Hay 35 

Somebody’s Mother 36 

rc offer Thee this Hand of Mine 36 

The Bridge 37 

The Polish Boy. Ann S. Stephens. ... 37 

Why should the Spirit of Mortals be 

Proixd 38 

Betsy Destroys the Paper. D. B. 

Locke 3f 

There’s None like a Mother if ever so 

Poor 41 

The Song of the Sword. Anonymous. ^ 

The Mistletoe Bough. Anonymous ft 

The Old Arm Chair 43 

The Village Blacksmith 43 

Which Shall it be? Anonymous 44 

The Death of the Warrior King. Chas. 

Swan . ^ 

Found Dead. Albert Leighton 44 

Little Will. Anonymous 45 

In School Days. J. G. Whittier 41 

Unknown Dead. L. D. M 

Bernardo del Carpio. Mrs. Hemans. • 44 


race IS events by Mali. 1 and 2 Cent Stamps takem 

Address, M* J« IVSK.S S& CO«, 

^ 6 ‘ Nasssut htreetf 


9tAiiioI« Lsrceum, Parlor, and otbcr EntertalnmeatV^ 
By FRANCES P. SULLIVAN. 


CONTENTS 

Page 


the Raren, Ed^ar A. Poe. 3 

•^he burning Prairie, Alice Carey C 

Guilty or Not Guilty 6 

The Death-bed. Thomas Hood 6 

The Seminole’s Reply. G.W. Patten. 7 
The Main Truck; or, A Leap for Life. 

Colton 7 

Civil War. Anonymous 7 

Antony’s Address to the Romans. 

Shakspeare 8 

Tke Palmetto and the Pine. Virginia 

L. French 10 

The Fate of Virginia. T. B. Macau- 
lay 12 

Guard thine Action. Sallie Ada 

Vance * 13 

One Glass More 13 

■William Tell 13 

Damon to the Syracusans. John 

Banim 14 

Erin’s Flag. Rev . Abram J. Ryan 14 

■•‘The Irish Brigade” at Fontenoy. 

Bartholomew Dowling IG 

Bhylock to Antonio. Shakspeare 16 

Maud Muller. J. G. Whittier 16 

The Gladiator. J. A. Jones 18 

Good-Night. Myles O’Reilly 19 

From India. W. C. Bennett 19 

The Soldier’s Pardon. Jas. Smith... 20 

The Whistler. R. Storer 21 

Antony and Cleopatra. Gen. Lytle... 22 

The Doorstep. E. C. Stedman 22 

Bill Mason’s Ride. F. Bret Harte.... 23 

Conscience and Future Judgment 23 

Pearl 24 


OP NO. S. 


Joe, Alice Robbins... 3,.,,. 24 

The Dying Brigand 25 

John Maynard. Horatio Alger, Jr. ... 25 

The Galley Slave. Henry Abbey 2*9 

Claude Melnotte's Apology. Lord 

Lytton 23 

Catiline’s Last Harangue to his Army. 

Croly 29 

Seven Ages of Man. Shakspeare 29 

The Blacksmith’s Story. Frank Olive 30 

Drafted. Mrs. H. L. Bostwick 31 

You Put no Flowers on my Papa's 

Grave. C. E. L. Holmes 32 

The Atheist. Wm. Knox 33 

Burial of Sir John Moore. Chas. 

Wolfe.. 34 

Twenty Years Ago 34 

The Rainbow 35 

A Wanderer’s Musings. By Wm. Geo- 

ghegan 36 

Scott aiad the Veteran. Ba'yard Tay- 
lor 36 

Damon and Pythias ; or. True Friend- 
ship. William Peter 37 

Kit Carson’s Ride. Joaquin Miller. . 39 
By the Shore of the River. C. P. 

Cranch 42 

Excelsior. H. W. Longfellow 43 

The Two Anchors. R. H. Stoddard . . 43 
Under the Lamplight. Annie R. 

Blount 44 

Brutus over the Dead Lucretia. J. 

H. Payne 45 

The Fireman. Robert T. Conrad.... 46 
Lochinvar’s Ride 5l 


¥ -*ice 12 Cents by 9Eall. 1 and 2 Cent Stamps takec 

AAdress, M. J. IVERS & CO., 

M6 Jfaasau Street, X, r. c»% 


STASDA8D 



ATiOBS B? BEST AUTHORS. 


0K Choiee Collection oriSeautkfcil Contpositioiift» 

CABEFUIiliY COMPILED FOR 

School, liyceuni, Parlor, and other EntertainmeaitflK 


By FRANCES P. SULLIVAN. 
CONTENTS OF NO. 3. 


Page 


!fhe Factory Girl’s Last Day 3 

Tkt BridgO of Sighs. By Thomas 

Ilood 4 

The Sisters. By John G. Whittier. . , 6 

Smiting the Eock , 6 

The Kuined Merchant. By Cora M. 

Eager 6 

Knocked About. By Daniel 

iiolly G 

The Burial of the Dane. By il. 21. 

Brownell 8 

Heroes of Greece. By Byron ... 8 

The Moneyless Man. By II. T. Stan- 
ton 9 

The Drummer Boy 10 

Catiline’s Defiance. By George Croly 10 
The Picket Guard. By Mrs. Ilowland 11 
The Dying Street Arab. By Matthias 

Barr 11 

No Mortgage on the Earm. By John 

U. Yates 12 

The Old Canoo. By Albert Pike 13 

Casablanca 13 

l.lpxt Door. Charles B. Howell It 

Itienzi’s Address. By M. E. Mitford. 14 
The Black Eegiment. By George 11. 

Boker 15 

Charles XII. By Johnson 15 

Camma’s Love for Sinnatus, By Ten- 
nyson IS 

Washington. By Bryant IG 

The Hand that iCocks the World. By 

Wm. Boss Wallace 16 

Lenore. By Edgar A. Poe 16 

One Night with Gin 17 

Life’s Conflict. By W. Whitehead. . , 13 
CsBur de Lion at the Bier of his 

Father. By Felicia Hemans 18 

Never Give Up 19 

The Unfinished Letter 

The Miser’s Will. By George Birds- 
eye 20 

iThe Lights of London. George E. 

' Sims 21 

Sample Eooms 21 

The Eose. James E. Lowell,. 21 

Song of the Battle Flag 22 

The Brave at Homo. T. Buchanan 

Bead 23 

Annabel Lee. Edgar A Poe 23 

Tho Cumberland. H. W. Longfellow 23 
SeUAd She 24 


Othello's Apology. Shakspeare 26 

Tbs Blue and the Gray. M. F. Finch 2f 

Bill and I. G. H. Miles 26 

Mill Elver Eide. J W. Donovan 28 

In Memoriam. Geo. D. Prentice 2f 

Horatius at the Bridge. T. B. Ma- 

caulay 

'There is No Death. Lord Lytton. ... 29 

The Engineer’s Story 30 

Only Sixteen 31 

I’ll Take What Father Takes. W. 

Hoyle 31 

’The Light House. Thomas Moore. ... 32 
LochioTs Warning. Thomas Camp- 
bell 32 

My Friend’s Secret. By B. P. Shil- 

laber 34 

'The Maniac. Matthew Gregory Lewis 34 

Bernardo’s Eevenge, Part III 35 

Bernardo and Alphonso, Part II. 

John Gibsen Lockhardt 38 

The Knight’s Toast 38 

The Child Violinist. Austin Dobson 3T 
Tom. Constance Fennimoro Wool- 

son 37 

Cleopatra Dying. Thomas S, CoJ’ier 38 
Hotspur’s Defence. Shakspeai'e.... 39 
General Joseph Eeed ; or, the Incor- 
ruptible Patnpt. Edward C. 


Jones 39 

William the Conq^Lercr. Chaa. Makay 40 

Keeping his Wo’jd 40 

Soliloquy of King Eichard HI. 

Shakspeare 41 

The Littlii Grave 41 

The Wounded Soldier 43 

Clarence’s Dream. Shakspeare 49 

The Battle of the Baltic. Thomaa 

Campbell 44 

The Bells of the Atlantic. Mrs . Sig» 

ourney 45 

The Stormy Petrel. Biyan W, Proc- 
tor (Barry Gomwalli 45 

The Amen of the Bocks. Gellert. ... 45 
Battle Flag at Shenandoah. Joaquin 

Miller 45 

Black-eyed Susan. Thomas Gay 47 

Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers . Mrs. 

Hemans. 4T 

Tho Three Fishers. Chag Kingsley. 45 
Tho Sands of Dee. Chaa. Kingsley.. 4B 


^riee II Cents by Mall. 1 and 2 Cent Stamps takea. 

Address, M. J. FTeBS & CO., 

«(i X> r. atr- 


STiHDUtD KECITATIOHS BT BEST AUTHORS. 


A Choicse Collection of Beautifkil Composition^ 

OAEBFUIiliT COMPILED FOB 

Ocbeol, lijceum. Parlor, and other Entertalnmeata, 

By FRANCES P. SULLIVAN. 

CONTENTS OF NO. 4. 


PAGE 


■••agnation. H. W. Longfellow 3 

At Morgue. Edmund 0. Stedman. 4 
John Burns of Gettysburg. Bret Harte 4 
The Pledge at Spunky Point. John 

Hay 6 

The Ivy Green. Charles Dickons .... G 
Conductor Bradley. John G. Whit- 
tier 6 

Bing Down The Drop — I Cannot Play. 

By J. W. Watson 7 

The Battle-Song of Labor 8 

The Haunted Palace. By Edgar Allan 

Poe 8 

Mary, rhe Maid of the Inn. Eobert 

Southey 9 

The Clown’s Story. Vandyke Browne 11 
The Execution of Montrose. By W. E. 

Aytoun 12 

The Old Forsaken School-House. By 

John H. Yates 14 

The Two Beggars 15 

The Young Tramp. By Charles F. Adam 15 

Bong of the Mystic. Father Kyan 16 

Truth — ^Freedom — ^Virtue. An Address 

to a Child 17 

The Little Cup Bearer 17 

Leaving the Homestead 18 

In the Floods. By Isabella Fy vie Mayo 18 

Alabama. Mrs. Hemans 19 

•• If things was only Sich.” By B. P. 

Shillaber 20 

The Mountain* of Life, J. G. Clark.. 20 

Give me the Hand. Goodman Bar- 

nahy 20 

The King’s Temple 21 

The Portrait. Owen Meredith 22 

The Guard’s Story 23 

The Red Jacket. George M. Baker. . . 23 

Minot’s Ledge. Fitz- James O’Brien.. 24 

The Bondage of Drink 25 

The King s Picture. Helen B. Bost- 

wick 25 

■Night. James Montgomery 26 

■aster* s Last Charge. Frederick 'Whit- 
taker 


FAOa 

Four Lives. Garnet B. ProGinan 28 

Eternal Justice. Charles Mackay .... 2i> 

The Fatal Glass. Laura U. Case 3tl 

Though Lost to Sight, to Memory 

Dear. Ruthven. Jeukyns 33 

If 31 

Our Ships at Sea. George W. Bungay. 31 
Scatter the Germs of the Beautiful. . . 33 
The Pride of Battery B. E. H. Gassa- 

way 33 

I’m with You once again. George P. 

Morris 33 

Incident of the French Camp. Eobert 

Browning 33 

Marion’s Dinner. Edward C. Jones. . 34 
Tale of a Temptation . Alice Horton. 34 
The Sailor-Boy’s Dream. William 

Dimond 36- 

A Sailor’s Story. Mrs. 0. H. N. 

Thomas - 37 

Xerxes at the Hellespont. R. C. 

Trench 33 

The Flight of Xerxes. Maria Jane 

Jewsbury 33 

Hero and Leander. Leigh Hunt 39 

The Avalanche 43 

The Surgeon’s Tale. Barry Cornwall. 43 

Clear the Way. Charles Mackay 41 

The Toast. Mary Kyle Dallas 41 

Baby. George Macdonald 4‘3 

The Lips that Touch Liquor Must 
Never Touch Mine. George W. 

Young 43 

The Ideal and the Real. I. Edgar 

Jones 43 

The Bricklayers. G. H. Barnes 44 

The Charge by the Ford. Thomas 

Dunn English 46 

Music in Camp. John R, Thompson 43 
Matumus’ Address to His Band . Ed- 
ward Spencec 46 

Jo, the Tramp. Edgar M. Chipman. 47 
The Death of Hofer. James (D. Man- 

„ gan 4t 

Memory. James A. Garfield 4 * 


price 12 Cents liy BlalL 1 and 2 Cent (Stamps taken. 

Address, M. 4 . IVERS A CO*, 

•96 Naaswa Street, Jf. T. 


STANDARD RECITATIONS BY BEST AUTHORS. 


A Choice Collection of BeautiAil Compositionil!^ 

CAEBrULLY COMPELED FOE 

CelM>ol« Lyceum, Parlor, and other Entertalnmenii^ 

By FRANCES P. SULLIVAN. 


CONTENTS OF NO. 5. 


Pago 


Bate of the 3 

lie Just, and Fear Net. Alfoi'd 4 

The Laborer. W. D. Qallagher 4 

Masonic Emblems 4 

Awake 1 Awake 1 (1861). Elmer K. . 

Coates 6 

The American Flag. Joseph B. Drake 6 

"Wounded. William E. Mi ler 7 

Cardinal Wolseyon Being Cast Off by 
King Henry VIII. Shakspeare ... 8 

Naming the Baby 9 

The Hornet’s Nest 10 

Xet it Pass 10 

A Drunkard’s Dream 10 

Drifted Out to Sea 11 

The Field of Waterloo. Byron 12 

llizpah 13 

The Falls of the Sioux 13 

In Fetters of Gold 14 

“ Rock of Ages ” 14 

The Sisters of Charity. Gerald Grif- 
fin 15 

The Two Glasses 16 

True Heroism 17 

Some Mother’s Child. Francis L. 

Keeler 17 

Columbia. Timothy Dwight 18 

Jenny Malone 19 

Cripple Ben. George L. Oatlin 20 

Earth’s Noblemen 20 

The Triple Tie. Henry O. Perry. ... 20 
The Rosary of My Years. Father 

Ryan 21 

The Haro of the Commune. Mar- 
garet J. Preston 22 

Antonio Oriboni. Margaret J. Pres- 
ton 23 

My Love. W. F. Fox 24 

The Drummer’s Bride 24 

True Source of Contentment 25 

The Maiden’s Prayar. W. P. Willis. 26 
A Boy. N. P. Willis 26 


True Faith . B . P. Shlllabef ...... .27 

IL'tter than Gold. Mrs. J. M. Win- 

ton 

A.ttoi* the Battle 

How a Man Should be Judged 

Tho I.asr, Redoubt. Alfred Austin. 

My Wite and Child. Henry It. Jack- 

son 

After tho Ball. Nora Perry 

Come Back. Thomas Dunn Englieh, 
Death of the Gaudentis. Harriet 

Annie 

Pbtonic. William B. Terrett 

'The Silver Wedding. Mrs. C. M. 

Stowe 

The Wants of Man . J.Q. Adams.... 

The Diamond Wedding 

I Have Drank My Last Glass 

The Sailor’s Funeral. Lydia H. Sig- 
ourney 

Two Loves and aLife. William Saw- 
yer 

Beginning Again 

The Wine-Cup 

Godiva. Alfred Tennyson 

The Regiment’s Return. E. J. Cutler 

The Lover’ll Sacrifice 

A Georgia Volunteer .. Mary A. Towns- 
end 

By Different Paths 

The Prodigals . Ernst M’Affey in the 

“Current ” 

No Such Thing as Chance 

The Bridge of Prayer 

A Breath of Summer. William Cullen 

Bryant 

The Boys who Wore Blue are Turning 

Gray. U. A. Barrett 

The Lost Child 

Our Kind of a Man. James Whit- 
comb Riley 

The Baby. J. W. Riley.... 


Price 12 Cents by Mail. 1 and 2 Cent Stamps taken. 

Address, M. J* IVSR.S Sc CO., 

SQ Nassau Street, N, Y. City* 


^ h *»ai MM 

Cl Cl €0 CO CO CO COCO CO eo eo 55 co 


SIAKDARD ECITATIOHS BY BEST AUTHOBS. 


A Choice Collection of ISeautiliil CompositionSy 

CAJRErULX.Y COMPILED FOB 

•cbool« Lyceum, Parlor, and other £ntertaiiimcnt«» . 

By FRANCES P. SULLIVAN. 


CONTKNTS OF NO. 6.^ 


Page 

^Rie Enji^neer’s Murder. Henry Mor- 


f Orel 3 

At Last. Clarkson Clothier 4 

In a Horse Car Celia Thaxter 4 

Hamlet’s Ghost. Shakspeare 4 

The World as it Is 6 

Trea.snro Trove 6 

Little Phil. Mrs . Helen Rich 6 

A Smile and a Kiss. K. C 6 

The Angel. Anna F. Burnham 6 

A Kiss at the Door 7 

Tliis Life is W'hat we Make it 7 

Somebody’s 1 ride. Clement Scott in 

“ Home Chimes” 8 

My Childhood Home. B. P. Shillaber 

(Mrs. Partington) 8 

Mercy. Shakspeare 8 

Marmion and Douglas. ».\ir Walter 

Scott 9, 

Little Brown Hands. M. H. Krout.. 9 

The Countersign 10 

Have Charity 10 

Our Sweet Unexpressed. W. F. Fox. 10 
My Bread on the Waters. George L. 

Catlin 11 

The Level and the Square. Robert 

Morris, LL.D 12 

Dreamland. Edgar Allan Poe 12 

He’ll Win at Last 13 

A Little Child Shall Lead Them 13 

I Would Not Live Alway. 'WhUiamH. 

Muhlenberg It 

Ships at Sea. Allie Wellington 15 

A Tramp. Recitation 16 

The Canteen. Private Miles O’Reilly IG 

The Revellers 17 

Little Sermons 17 

Land Poor. J. W. Donovan 18 

A Thanksgiving. LticyLarcom 19 

The Charcoal Man . J . T . Trowbridge. 

From “Our Young Folks” 19 

The Night Before Ch istmas. C. C. 

Moore 20 

The Night After Christmas 21 

*• Hoe Gut Your Roe.” Anon 22 

Live for Something. Anon 22 

Three Little ©raves 22 

Somelhingto Shun. Josephine Pol- 
lard 23 




The Silver Plate. Margaret J. Pres- 
ton 2J 

In the Mining Town. Rose Hartwick 

Thorpe 24 

Taking Toll 24 

Playing Drunkard. Francis S. Smith 26 
An. Incident of Gettysberg. Francis 

Do Ilaes Janvier 26 

Tlio Old Parson’s Story 26 


The Dying Newsboy. Mrs. Emily 

Thornton 27 

The Ridc^of Jennie McNeal 28 ■ 

The Pilot’s Wife 29 

The Countersign. Margaret Ey tinge. 29 

Saturday Niglit 30 

The Great Bell of Cologne 30 

Recollections of the Past 31 

The Great Temptation. Alice Horton 32 i 


The Old Man in the Palace-Car. J. 


H. Yates 3? 1 

Papa’s Letter 31' 

The Heart of the War (18G4) 

Over the Dam. Zclotes R. Bennett. . . 36 
Death of the Drunkard’s Boy. O. S. 

Ellis 36 

Richmond on the James 37 

Courage 88 


Death on the Stage. Priscilla J. 


Owen 39 

Charity. Peter Cousland 40 


Don’t Say that He Died Through 
Drink. Harriet A. Grazebrook.. 40 


The Last Broadside. Eli 2 a,beth T. P. 

Beach 41 

A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea. A. 

Cunningham 42 

The Parting 42 

The Lost Chord 42 

Davy’s Promise ; or, I Must Be There 
on New Year’s Day. Recitation. . 43 

Nanette. Clark W. Bryan 44 

Asleep at the Switch 44 

Annie and Willie’s Prayer. Sophie P. 

Snow 45 

The Widow’s Message to Her Son. 

Ellen Forrester 43 

A Folded Leaf 41 


JTrice 12 Cents by Mail. 1 and 2 Cent Stamps taken. 

Address, M. J. IVERS te CO., 

SS Nassau Street, N. X. Ci»v. 


/ 

STANDARD RECIT ATIONS B Y BEST AUTHORS. 

A. Cliolc© CoUcclion oA* fiseautifiiill Compositioiui« 

CAKEFULLY COMPILED FOK 

School, Lyceum, Parlor, and other LntertalnmeiitB. 

By PRANCES P. SULLIVAN. 

CONTENTS OF NO. 7. 


PAGE 


Th® Perrerse Een s 

The Green Mountain Justice 4 

The Faithful Lovers 4 

A Catastrophe. Peleg Arkwright ... . 6 

A Modest Wit 6 

Poker (3 

"Why tho Mule Escaped 6 

The First Client. Irwin Kussell 7 

Bhe Would be a Mason 7 

A Novel 8 

Post Office 9 

Tho Smack in School. W. P. Palmer 9 

“Der Crafen.” Charley Kussell 10 

Through the Tunnel 11 

Der Baby 11 

Past Freight. Charles Dockstader. . . 11 

An Old Maid’s Prayer 12 

Widow Malone. Charles Lever 12 

Auction Extraordinary. Lucretia 

Davidson 13 

Tho Chinese Excelsior 1.3 

Larry’s on tho Force . Irwin Russell. 14 

A Chinese Ston^. C. P. Cranch 14 

The Learned Negro 15 

To Those about to Marry 15 

lie Never Told a Lie 15 

A Modern Belle 15 

Father Molloy . Samuel Lover 17 

Lides to Mary Jade 18 

Patrick’s Colt. Anonymous 18 

The Parting Lovers. Mary E Day . . 19 

Printemp.s 20 

How to Cure a Cough 20 

The Bachelor’s Soliloquy 21 

An Easy Remedy. Horace Smith 21 

A Lay of Real Life . Thomas Hood ... 22 
Laugh and Grow Fat. W. M Praed.. 22 
Casablanca ; or. The Obstinate Sailor. 

George P. Webster 23 

My Motbor-iu-Law. Hugh Howard.. 23 

DotFritzcy. Thos. H. Winnett 24 

The Spectre Muleteer. J.J. Roche.. 24 

Tilly Grimes, tho Di'over 25 

The Three "Wishes 25 

Ein Deutsches Lied. Anonyomus ... 25 
•"Mark Quencher’s” Philosophy. 

Chas. M. Connolly 26 

’•Jiark Qtienchers” Soliloquy. Chas. 

M Connolly 25 


What I Would Do for Her, Thee . H . 


Winnett 2# 

O’Rcjlly’s Billy Goat 37 

Yuba Dam 27 

Pat’s Letter 27 

Drink and Its Influence 28 

An Evening Idyl 29 

The Jester *s Sermon. "Walter Th»rn- 

bury 2j 

RoryO’More. Samuel Lover 3® 

Parody on tho Tramp 31 

The Sneezing Man. Ward M. Flor- 
ence 31 

Leedle Yawcob Strauss. Chas. P. 

Adams 33 

Schneider’s Ride. Gus Phillips 32 

Dot Baby ofl' Mine. A Brother of 
“Leedle Yawcop Strauss.” Chas. 

F. Adams 34 

The Baggage Fiend 34 

Mark Antony’s Original Oration 34 

Yarn of the "Nancy Bell.” "W. S. 

Gilbert 36 

Tho Frenchman and the Rats 37 

The Dutchman’s Serenade 87 

Somebody’s Dog 38 

The Apology to O’Reilly 38 

Paddy’s Excelsior 39 

The Birth of St Patrick. Sam’l Lover 39 

The Madman and tho Razor 40 

A Welsh Classic. H. H. Ballard 40 

The Puzzled Dutchman. C. F. Adams 42 
The Puzzled Census-Taker. John G. 

Saxe 42 

"What Biddy Said in the Police Court. 

E. T. Corbett 42 

Unmade Hay 43 

Slang Phrases 43 

Fritzey’s Dead. Oofty Gooft 44| 

In der Shweed Long Ago. Oofty Gooft 44 

Katie’s Answer. Anonymous 44 

The Steward of Singapore 44 

The Cats 45 

The Wicked Dog. W. T. Whelan. ... 45 
Tho Grocer’s Wooing. H. 0. Dodge. 46 
Dot Stupporn Pony. Harry Woodson 46 

A Jolly Fat Friar. Anonymous 47 

Der Patter of der Shingles 47 

Only a Girl. Ruth Hall 48 

Nobody’s Mule 48 

At the Window 4f 


Frlce IS Cents by Mail, 1 and 2 Cent Stamps takeiio 

Address, M* Sc CO«, 

Nassau Street, N, Y, Citgk 


I 


♦ 


$ 

( 


*■ 




f 


V 


AUTHORS. 


CHOICE COLLECTION OE 

BEAUTIFUL COMPOSITIONS, 

{Jarefully Compiled, for School, Lyceum, 

^ and other Entertainments, 

BY FRANCIS P. SUIXIVAN. 


STANDARD RECITATIONS BY BES 


7 


OO’XS’TiESKrrcs ox* no. 


Pa^re. 


The Raven. Ed^r^A. Poe 3 

The Burning Prarie. Alice Carey . . 6 

Guilty or KiSt Guilty 6 

The Death-bed. Thomas Hood 6 

The Seminole’s Reply. G. W. Pat- 
ten 7 

The Main Truck; or, A Leap for 

Life. Colton 7 

Civil War. Anonymous 7 

Antony’s Address to the Romans. 

Shakspeare 8 

The Palmetto and the Pine. Vir- 
ginia L. French 10 

The Fate of Virginia. T. B. Ma- 

cauley 12 

Guard thine 'Action. Sallie Ada 

Vance 18 

One Glass More 13 

William Tell 13 

Damon to the Syracusans. John 

Banlm 14 

Erin’s Flag. Rev. Abram J. Ryan. 14 
** The Irish Brigade ” at Fontenoy. 

Bartholomew Dowling 16 

Shy lock to Antonio. Shakspeare.. 16 

Maud Muller. J. G. Whittier 16 

The Gladiator. J. A. Jones 18 

Gkxxi-Night. Myles O’Reilly 19 

From India. W. C. Bennet^. 19 

The Soldier’s Pardon, Jas. .imith. . 20 

The Whistler. R. Storer 21 

Antony and Clewatra. Gen. Lytle 22 

The Doorstep. E. C. Stedman 22 

Bill Mason’s Ride. F. Bret Harte. . 23 
Conscience and Future Judgement. 2S 
The Purest Pearl 24 


JPricc 12 cents by mail. 

Address, M. J. 


Page. 


Joe. Alice Robbins 24 

The I^ing Biigand 25 

John Maynard. Horatio Alger, Jr. 25 
The Galley Slave. Henry Abbey.. 26 
Claude Melnotte’s Apology. Lord 

Lytton 28 

Catiline’s Last Harangue to his 

Army. Croly 29 

Seven Ages of Man. Shakspeare.. 29 
The Blacksmith’s Story. Frank 

Olive 30 

Drafted. Mrs. H. L. Bostwick. .... 81 
You Put no Flowers on my Papa’s 

Grave. C. E. L. Holmes 32 

The Atheist. Wm. Knox 83 

Burial of Sir John Moore. Chas. 

Wolfe 84 

Twenty Years Ago 34 

The Rainbow 36 

A Wanderer’s Musings. By Wm, 




Scott and the Veteran. Bayard 

Taylor 36 

Damon and Pythias ; or. True 

Friendship. William Peter 87 

Kit Carson’s Ride, Joaquin Miller. 39 
By the Shore of the River. C. P. 

Cranch 42 

Excelsior. H. W. Longfellow... . 43 
The Two Anc’ ors R. H. Stoddard 43 
Under the Lamplight. Annie R. 

Blount 44 

Brutus over the Dead Lucre tia. 

J. H Payne 45 

The Fireman, Robert T. Conrad.. 46 
Lochinvar’s Ride 47 


Postage Stamps taken. 

IVERS & CO., 


86 NASSAU ST., 


New York ClW' 


CUSHING’S MANUAL. 

containing 

RULES of PROCEEDING and DEBATE 

OF 

DELIBERATIVE ASSEMBLIES. 


I Compfete Cttk/e for hstraeUon and Reference in att Matters pertaining to 
the Management Hf PMkt MeeHhgs according to Partiamentacy Usages. 

BT REVISED BY 

LUTHEK a CUSHINO^ FRANCES P. SULLIVAN^ 


The contents embrace the foUowIng subjects : 


Addition of PropotIBoni, 

Adjournmentt 

Amendment. 

Assembly, Deliberative. 
Assembling. 

Blanks, filling of. 

Chairman, preliminary elec* 
Committees. [tion of. 

Committee of the Whole. 
Commitment. 
Communications. 

Consent of the assembly. 
Contested Elections. 
Credentials. 

Debate. 

Decorum Breaches oil 
Disorderly Conduct. 
Disorderly Words. 

Division. 

Elections and Returns. 
Expulsion. 

Floor. 

Forms of Proceeding. 
Incidental Questions. 
Introduction of Business. 
Journal. 

Judgment of an aggregate 
Lie on the Table. [body. 


List of members. 

Main Question. 

Majority. 

Members. 

Membership. 

Motion. 

Naming a member. 

Officers. 

Order ofa deliberative assem- 
Order of business. [bly. 
Order, rules of. 

Order, call to. 

Orders of the Day. 
Organization. 

Papers and Documents. 
Parliamentary Law. 
Parliamentary Rules. 
Petitions. 

Postponement. 

Power of assembly to eject 
Preamble. (strangers. 

Precedence. 

President. 

Presiding Officer. 

Previous Question. 

Privileged Questions. 
Proceedings, how set in mo* 
Punishment. [tion. 

Quarrel between members. 


uestion. 

uorum. 

eading of Papers. 
Reception. 

Recommitment. 

Reconsideration. 

Recording Officer. 
Recurrence of Business. 
Reports of Committees. 
Reprimand. 

Resolution. 

Returns. 

Roll. 

Rules. 

Secondary Questions. 
Seconding of motions. 
Secretary. 

Separation of propositons. 
Speaking. 

Speaking member. 

Speech, reading oi, by mem* 
Subsidiary Questions, [ber. 
Suspension of a rule. 
Transposition of proposition. 
Vice-President. 

Voting. 

Will of assembly. 
Withc’rawal of motion. 

Yezs and Nays. 


In addition to the above this volume contains 


rHB CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

AND THE 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 


799 Pages, Bound in paper, SB cents ; bound in doth, gitt back, 60 cento, 
tot by mail on leos^ of price. One* and two-oent stamps taken. 

M. J. IVERS & CO., 

aiMM. Waw T«rk, M. V. 






I 


9 




% 




4 



4r 






I 



4 


«► 





* 



• % 



5-^* V* 






■\ 


• • * " 



' 4 




I 


4 









♦ 


■ ■■ 

fc. ' 


I 









' 'i^, ■ I . <, . • ^ • • 'Jr .,' , * 


» 


. >* 


' • • ‘V A* ' » r^.- 

-• ••'•■’,-’ 








■ ny •. . 

■ *• -• 



' ‘.IT-- y^ifu 


' 1 * !•' * 

'i?. j. ^ ■ 


■ ' Y ■ - 1 ■' . ' td.^ \ V. ' 

U * ' * ‘ ' A ?■' '^ 




> • 

%r- ' • 

^^' V' ; 


^1 • 


•-r 


.> 

vlf ■ '■ 


» 

’;' V 


» •(• 



^ • 


•■''•'■ .. ' • ■ - V-, • ^• . •; 

• » I - •• . -* t\v r*»^ ‘ X '£ 

I ' <•. • i *' *" *' fc,. ‘ j‘*AkT 

V * ‘ .•■«L • * ;• • '.' > -I ' •'•>! '4 ' 7iK . 




•V ^ 



' ■■< \’^. r •'-.■VuT' ’'>5 

\ ^ ■• f, .1-. f. ^y*’ 'fifi 

> .< . '" •.tJ I ’■'•:* . S'jRiJl 


V'‘ '' -rv .,rf,..- V?, 'ft,' 4V.;«. -vv-v; 
' ^ sv,t^ s'‘i 

^ -• • .*T >4 <-J 

%.- < ^ J . 9 * ^ » ■ ■ . j 

y-tO* ■;•>■.•'■•»'• flnilflll 

' ■< *, ■'' 4 -*: ‘ ■ jyUH 


,Al 


* 


.»* • 


>.'> •' 


•♦ » 



■ A..' . 


• / 




■ ♦ - 

fy , ^ 'i ‘ 


‘A/* 





IWj.-,;'.; 


i ' 


vvO,’- ■>'!’< I- ■ ■'■'- ‘,*. 1 -^ 4 , ■' 


• » I 



»( 


I 




UBRAKY 



Q00S2T3aH5'^ 



